#and i already fell in love with 2 specific ones at 2 different shelters :(

[captainsjack]

pls someone talk me out of adopting a cat i am so tempted😭

[visorforavisor]

warning: Good Omens series / season 2 spoilers

you have been warned

final warning okay thank you

(also Pride and Prejudice spoilers I guess if anyone still cares about that 210 years on)

·—·

they’re Pride and Prejudice, people! I’m telling you!

Aziraphale still holds onto his anti-Hell, pro-Heaven, anti-demon, pro-angel bias, his prejudice telling him that there is no “institutional problem”, that Crowley fell because he asked questions rather than because Heaven didn’t want questions asked.

Crowley refuses to let go of his pride in his identity (whether that be as one of the fallen, or as part of a side that is neither Heaven nor Hell), and go back to the Heaven that betrayed him, which he doesn’t trust not to ruin everything.

Aziraphale is Lizzy, Crowley is Darcy.

and, come on, we all know what happens in Chapter 34.

Darcy proposes to her. he talks about having tried to pretend the love is not real (“in vain I have struggled”), and asks Lizzy to marry him despite the fact that they come from two different factions who traditionally wouldn’t marry, and despite the fact that he knows she does not possess the same identity he is proud of in himself.

and Lizzy turns him down, because she’s prejudiced against Darcy’s type and this has influenced how and what she thinks about him specifically.

Darcy leaves this proposal feeling hurt, betrayed, and upset, while Lizzy is too confident that she is right in the core beliefs that influenced her decision. and they go away needing to work on themselves.

(is all of this sounding familiar?)

and then they meet again and fall in love and there’s a successful proposal etc etc.

Crowley’s pride in what he is won’t let him take Aziraphale at half quality, still part of Heaven; Aziraphale must be so exceptional as to transcend that restrictive category. an angel who would buy into that nonsense is not what Crowley stands for. he cares about people in his own, very small category: their side, which he thought included Aziraphale. those outside Crowley’s side are not to be ruining Crowley’s “precious, peaceful, fragile existence”.

meanwhile, Aziraphale’s prejudice presents him two options. either Crowley remains a demon which means he is bad, or Crowley becomes an angel again, which means he can be properly good. in the second case, Aziraphale can have him. Aziraphale can’t have Crowley if he’s bad, which he must be if he’s a demon.

there’s a subtle difference between the two.

Crowley’s tactic is more about self-preservation for his group (which would have included Aziraphale if Aziraphale’d agreed to dump Heaven for their side, just as Darcy’s remaining pride extends to protecting Lizzy when they are married (“Darcy could never receive him [Wickham] at Pemberley”)).

Aziraphale is being self-righteous for the good in the world (which he would have done for Crowley too if Crowley’d agreed to be an angel, just as Lizzy loses her shit at Darcy for not helping Wickham and all of his myriad other moral failings and then turns around and defends him once she’s convinced he’s good (“that [her dislike of him] is all to be forgot”)).

of course, this all might be an accident on the part of the writers, but then again….

Crowley and Aziraphale’s ideas to get Nina and Maggie together were sheltering from the rain, one fabulous kiss, and Pride and Prejudice.

Crowley and Aziraphale have already had their sheltering from the rain — twice, actually (at the end of the creation scene, and the end of the Eden scene). they have also had their kiss — no explanation needed.

this is their Pride and Prejudice, right down to Crowley (Darcy) protesting when a dance with Aziraphale (Lizzy) is suggested.

I could go into how Pride and Prejudice is in and of itself a Much Ado About Nothing retelling, but honestly that’s not particularly relevant, just cool. (do watch the David Tennant and Catherine Tate Much Ado, though.)

so, my hypothesis for the conclusion of a potential series 3 is as follows.

it will involve Crowley’s equivalent of “one word from you will silence me forever”: Aziraphale’s last chance to answer in the affirmative and be with him. Aziraphale will learn that Crowley is not bad simply for being a demon (I hope), and Crowley will realise Aziraphale should be let into his heart even if he wasn’t always on Crowley’s side (I hope).

Darcy / Crowley stops refusing to interact positively with anybody not in the little clique, and Lizzy / Aziraphale stops believing an entire group to be awful.

I don’t know if I have anything else coherent to say on this. something about how they have to accept the things they cannot change about the other and change the things the other cannot accept about them?

(also Gabriel could arguably be Wickham, given that Crowley tries to convince Aziraphale that Gabriel did a nasty thing and should be kept away from those he wants to keep safe but Aziraphale won’t believe Gabriel is a bad person because Gabriel isn’t one of the group he considers to be bad… I mean, it’s just their pride and their prejudice again isn’t it. whether we’re talking about Darcy, Lizzy, and Wickham, or Crowley, Aziraphale, and Gabriel.

I’m not going to follow that extension of the comparison too far, though, because I don’t think I can reasonably claim that Beelzebub is Lydia.)

concluision: I don’t care whether it’s Benedick and Beatrice, or Darcy and Lizzy, or Crowley and Aziraphale. I love all of their dynamics.

and we have amazing things to look forward to if we can convince the company to make series 3.

[persephone-plasmids]

The Storm

Danse and Nora fic

[Read on AO3]

[Part 1] [Part 2]

The abandoned house at Coastal Cottage wasn’t much to look at. The second floor was almost completely destroyed and a large Mirelurk nest had been hiding under the floorboards before Nora and Danse made quick work of them. Danse had to admit though, as far as prospective settlements went, this one actually had potential.

The two companions had spent the day clearing out debris to make the rebuild easier for the Minutemen who would eventually move in, but as the sun began its descent in the sky, Danse looked out over the water in the distance.

“It’s pretty, isn't it?” Nora asked, suddenly beside Danse with a handful of branches she’d cleared from the second story.

“It is,” Danse agreed, still feeling uneasy around the vault dweller.

Since their kiss, he didn’t know how to act around her. He felt equal parts guilt, humiliation, and desire, and none of those emotions put him at ease.

“I wish you could have seen it before the bombs,” Nora went on, dropping her pile of brush on the ground just outside of the house.

“You’d been here before?” Danse asked, confused.

“Not here specifically,” Nora answered, her voice distant. “I just wish you could have seen all of it. It was so… green.”

Danse looked over at Nora for a moment, studying the way her eyes softened at the corners as she spoke of her former life. She pursed her lips, still looking out over the water.

“I miss the trees. And the seasons. I know it’s such a small thing when you think of everything else I should miss… but you never realize what a big difference a full green tree makes,” she said, now looking up at Danse with a sad smile. “I loved sitting out in the backyard under our tree in the spring and reading a book.”

The mental image this conjured up in Danse’s mind brought a soft smile to his own lips. “I would have liked that.”

“I know you would have,” Nora said, her features holding less sadness now. “You would have liked a lot about the old world.”

As she spoke, a crack sounded above the pair, causing Nora to jump.

“Seriously?” she asked in exasperation. “Is that another rad storm?”

“Looks like it,” Danse said, frowning at the clouds that were slowly taking on a green glow. “We won’t make it back to Sanctuary in time”

Nora’s brow furrowed as she looked around the ruined home they stood in. Nora hated the rad storms. Of course, Danse didn’t think anyone but a Ghoul could really love them, but there was something more to it for her. Danse suspected that the thunder reminded her of the bombs dropping.

“This house won’t help us much, but that red barn over there should provide adequate shelter,” Danse said, taking Nora’s hand and leading her over to the structure.

He told himself that he had to take her hand to shake her from her quickly growing anxiety. He’d never been a very good liar. Not even to himself.

Closing the doors to the barn, Nora ignited the green light on her PipBoy, taking the device off and propping it up against the wall to provide the pair with at least some illumination.

“I have some RadX if you need it,” Nora said, popping her own pill before handing one to Danse.

He gratefully accepted it before stepping out of his power armor. They were going to be there for a while and his power armor wasn’t exactly comfortable.

Nora sat on the ground with her back up against the wall but Danse continued to stand awkwardly beside his now-empty power armor, unsure of what he should do.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see the signs that a rad storm was coming,” Nora said, closing her eyes as another round of thunder made the walls rumble. “That was stupid. I should have been paying better attention.”

She was trying to sound logical about the whole thing, but Danse could hear the fear in her voice. It was that same anxiety that always plagued her when she heard some deep booming sound. He’d first seen it during a fire fight where one of the raiders had gotten their hands on a Broadsider and loaded it with cannonballs. Then again during their first rad storm together. And yet again when the Institute had finally gone up in smoke.

Nora always tried to hide her PTSD from the day the bombs fell, but Danse could easily see through it.

“We’re going to be okay in here,” Danse said, his voice softening now as he took a seat beside her.

He wanted to comfort her without letting her know that he could see how distressed she was. Nora didn’t like to be perceived as weak in any aspect of her life.

“What else would I have liked about the old world?” Danse asked, desperately looking for something to distract her.

Though her breathing was shallow, Danse could see the way Nora’s lips curled as she thought.

“Museums,” Nora said, now  looking over at Danse in the soft green glow of the PipBoy. “You would have loved seeing all of the displays laid out so neatly without a single smashed relic in sight.”

Now it was Danse’s turn to smile. He tried to push away an image of Nora and himself walking hand in hand through a pristine museum. He needed to let go of those feelings for her. His little fantasies would only make that harder.

“Oh and you would have loved the whole ‘American Dream’ thing,” Nora said, her grin now wide and unbothered by the thunder outside.

“What do you mean?” Danse asked, his brown eyes crinkling in the corners as he smiled at her.

“Having a wife and kids,” she began. “White picket fence. Baseball with your son while you grilled. Your wife making an apple pie. The whole thing. You would have loved it. You were made for that life.”

Nora’s words once again conjured up an image in Danse’s mind. An image so different from the barren wasteland they were currently in that it actually made him homesick for something he’d never even experienced.

Nothing about the Commonwealth looked like this fantasy. There was no time for leisure or pleasure when you were just trying to survive.

“That sounds amazing,” Danse said, and he was surprised by just how sad his voice sounded. “I’m sorry all of that was ripped away from you.”

Nora nodded as she watched him closely. “I’m sorry you never even got to see it. It was really something.”

“Waking up to all of this death and destruction must have been like a living nightmare,” Danse said.

Nora nodded slowly, looking thoughtful before she spoke. “You would think so… but the one thing I didn’t really account for, is the fact that you can find good people anywhere. Even in the worst situations. I’ve met so many good people since I came out of the vault.”

“And a lot of bad ones,” Danse said.

“Dealing with the bad ones is still worth it to get to know the good ones,” Nora said, the smile back in place.

“I love that about you,” Danse said, before catching just how familiar he was being and shutting his mouth.

This made Nora grin. “Love what?”

Danse wanted to clear his throat and change the subject, but he didn’t. Instead, he opted for uncharacteristic honesty. “Your optimism. The fact that you can see good in everything. I love that about you… there’s… there’s a lot to love about you.”

He couldn’t be sure in the low light of the PipBoy, but it almost looked like Nora blushed at his words.

“There’s a lot to love about you too, Danse,” Nora replied, instantly making the Paladin tense up with that familiar pull he felt towards Nora. The pull he had to try to ignore.

“I’m good in a fight,” he said with an uncomfortable laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

Nora nodded in agreement. “But you’re also kinder than you give yourself credit for. I know it hasn’t been easy for you to change your mind about Synths and Ghouls, but you’ve already made a lot of progress. And the fact that you’re willing to try says a lot about you.”

Danse looked down at the ground, unsure of what to do with Nora’s praise. He loved it, even though he wished he didn’t. “I’ve still got a long way to go… but thank you.”

Nora leaned her shoulder against his as she went on, her voice closer than he had anticipated. “There’s a lot more to love too.”

Danse looked over at Nora. Her eyes held something he couldn’t quite place, but it made that pull towards her even harder to resist. Like a string attached to his chest that she just kept tugging on.

“You make me feel safe,” she began, leaning closer to him. Her eyes darted to his lips for a brief second. “And you make me feel… something I didn’t think I’d feel again after I lost Nate.”

Danse swallowed hard, unable to keep his eyes away from her lips now. He wasn’t good with reading people’s emotions, but he wasn’t sure how he could possibly be misreading this situation.

“What’s that?” he asked, his voice almost too quiet to hear.

“Want,” she said simply, before leaning closer and pressing her lips against his.

This wasn’t like the previous night. Nora wasn’t drunk. She wasn’t emotionally distraught. She was kissing him without any reason that he could see.

His mind raced to analyze what was happening, but his logic couldn’t compete with the overwhelming desire he felt to pull her closer to him.

Her lips started out hesitant and soft, but as soon as Danse kissed her back, it was like a switch flipped. Nora’s kisses became hungry. Persistent. She moved her lips against his in a desperate way that he eagerly matched.

Everything about Nora was soft. Her lips, her skin, her hair, but when she began kissing him, she wasn’t soft. She pushed her lips against his forcefully before repositioning her legs on either side of him, straddling him as he sat against the wall.

Nora moaned into Danse’s mouth when he pulled her against him, his hands finding her hips and holding them tightly.

To say he was inexperienced would be an understatement, but somehow Danse’s instincts easily kicked in as he parted Nora’s lips with his tongue.

She breathed him in as they kissed, their bodies moving together naturally. Danse felt like every inch of him that she touched was ignited by an unseen fire and all he knew was that he wanted more and more of her.

Her hands roamed across his chest before circling around to the back of his neck where she grabbed his hair to pull his lips even harder against hers. Pushing her hips against him, he could hear her breath hitch.

He wanted to taste every moment of this kiss. The way her tongue moved over his. The way her body moved against him so deliciously.

Danse’s chest felt like it might explode from the incredible feeling of kissing Nora and he slowly moved his hands from her hips up her back, reveling in the feeling of her. But as their lips moved together, the barn was suddenly illuminated by the green rad storm outside.

Danse and Nora broke away from the kiss to see that the barn door had blown open in the storm. The event wasn’t exactly life-threatening, but it seemed to be enough to break the moment between them.

Nora didn’t pull away from Danse right away like he thought she might. Her anxiety over the storm didn’t seem nearly as powerful as it had been only a moment before.

Instead, she kept her fingers tangled in his hair as she looked back at him.

The pair were breathless and looking at each other with wide eyes.

Had this really just happened? And what did it mean? Danse’s instincts had taken over when he’d first started kissing Nora, but his mind was quickly working to overanalyze the situation now.

Should he move her off of him? Should he apologize?

She must have seen his brain working overtime, because Nora smiled at him.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long, Danse,” Nora said quietly, her voice still breathless. “You have no idea”

“You have?” he asked, unable to comprehend her words. “I… I assumed that because of… what I am…” His words trailed off. He wasn’t sure he wanted to come right out and remind Nora of what he was. Especially because he was half convinced that she only kissed him because she’d temporarily forgotten.

Nora leaned forward and gave Danse a long, slow kiss; taking her time as she moved her lips softly over his.

The Paladin was embarrassed by the goosebumps that sprang up all over his body at this gesture.

“You’re a good man,” she said softly after she pulled away from him. He could feel her breath brush across his lips as she spoke. “That’s all that matters to me.”

Danse furrowed his brow, his brown eyes staring at her in earnest. He wasn’t sure what to make of this.

“I don’t understand how you could feel that way about me.”

Nora smiled now. “I know you don’t. And that’s part of the reason I do.”

She lightly brushed her hand against his stubbly cheek, cupping his face as he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. He didn’t realize just how starved he’d been for physical contact until this very moment. Kissing Nora had been incredible and intense, but this soft touch filled something inside of him that he didn’t know was missing.

“Danse, I want to be with you,” she said quietly, still cupping his face as he brought his hand up to cover hers.

“I want that too,” he finally said, after a moment of quieting the voice inside of his head that told him he wasn’t good enough for her. That he was an abomination. That he was unworthy of her affection. “You just might have to be patient with me as I try to understand why on earth you'd want that.”

Nora placed another soft kiss against his lips; this one brief. “I can be patient.”

[sorry-i-ship-drarry]

30. Scared, potter ?

Prompt used- Grabbing onto their arm | FLUFF | Draco finally reveals how he fell in love with harry | can't believe I've already reached 30 days with these prompts.

Laughter cackled into the room with people draco had enormously grown to love. It's weird how fast time flies when you are surrounded by people who care about you regardless of how many shit days you may have and draco was a happy victim of it. All his life he had never cared for anyone else, treated them as if they were nothing untill he himself felt like one of those people, what it felt like to be nothing and he hated every second of it and when finally life gave him a second chance by a simple act of fate, he rose out the person who was completely opposite of who he used to be and he was proud of it and more proud were the people who once had hated him. It was a miracle how draco was sat amongst these people now, but he could not be more happier to reach where he is today and everyone he have right now. 5 years of learning, progress, trying to clear his name, he had finally became the person he wanted to be and love, it was just a small Miracle that happened by his side, so unpredictable but exactly what he needed and if there was one person who struck through it all was none other than, harry james Potter. His so called arch nemesis.

He met harry by a very simple mistake actually. One day he was serving coffee in a muggle coffee shop to pay his rent and the next day he knew he had almost been fired for spilling coffee over someone, and obviously that someone had to be harry. They got to talking about how different lives were, how difficult and yet they had the most complex similarities. It took harry exactly 9 months and 3 days during draco's final trials to get a job for him in the auror office, claiming if they didn't take him it would one of the most stupid choice they'd ever make because they'd lose a brilliant mind. Draco's first instincts were obviously disliking harry for doing something like that for him and maintained distance as much as he could but showed his gratitude in different ways like anonymously sending harry his favourite deserts every Friday and cup of coffee every morning. It wasn't until they both had been paired up for a mission related to a death Eater that they collided once again. According to the recruiters, it was important they had someone who was familiar with the death Eater ways, draco and a person they feared the most who vanquished the dark lord, harry. One scene to another, the tension building up one day led them into fighting and eventually resulted in them not talking until during the end of the mission when Draco got fatal injury, not because of the case but because of a muggle driver basically hitting draco. Eventually harry had to assign the mission to officials under him and draco being on bed rest, since it was a muggle injury and treating it the wizarding ways could've possibly been a hindrance in his 100 percent recovery.

And now this is where they are, sitting on top of the grimauld place, on its roof , lit up by almost 70 golden fairy lights, sheltered by a silver tent with a bunch of their friends and families assembled for the rehearsal dinner, or so the muggle called. It was just a last party from harry potter and draco malfoy.

Neville clinked his work lightly on his champagne glass raising it " Time for toast"

Draco cleared his throat grabbing attention from everyone across the table. Harry looked at him, bewildered since he definitely didn't knew Draco planned this.

" I'd like to take a few moments from all of you for this. I- I am blessed to have you all in my life and I met most of you when my life hit rock bottom and through it all, you guys have supported me unconditionally and I'm forever in debt for that"

They all raised their glasses in appreciation.

" and to you harry, tomorrow morning I will be pronouncing my vows and I know we've practically written them together, I can assure you no words are ever enough to what I feel for you. I've met you by a simple act of fate and it is my choice to choose my destiny to spend the rest of my life loving you just like you love me.

I met harry 6 years 3 months and exactly 25 days ago. I was merely counting the days of my life to make it through all of it and by far that day had been a huge blessing. A lot of you have asked me when did I realise I was in love with him and I've Always said that it was somewhere along the way but the truth is I have been saving this answer my whole life for this specific day. 3 years ago when I got hit by a car and had stitches up and down my body, 2 fractures and almost a broken nose, thank goodness for that though, I love my nose, harry being the absolute gentlemen he is, dropped the damn case to take care of my lousy ass. So this one day during my 1 month bed rest, harry had been late and I was absolutely glad he was because of ego issues, I heard my bell rang, I got up and took sometime to reach the door and by the time I had even checked who it was, the person had left, leaving a parcel in my letter box. Being me, I went downstairs to pick it up and just as I started to go back upstairs, a floor below mine I almost rolled down the stairs and guess who was the knight in shining armour, harry. He ranted the hell out of me for choosing to do that and simply grabbed my hand, put it around his neck and carried me back up. The entire day he kept bashing on about what would've happened if he wasn't there. That's when I fell In love. It wasn't magical or something as people describe it, I felt what I had been deprived of my whole life, care and love. The way he just went on and on about it, just showed me how much he cared and the same exact night he stayed over claiming he is never leaving my fucking ass alone, guess he took that too seriously by the way, I fell in love that night of him scolding me. And that's the answer I've saved up all these years. And I'm pretty sure harry is still never leaving my fucking ass alone if in future I get injured, just the consequences and situations would be far different " and draco raised his glass again.

" to harry and draco " Ron grinned, his arms wrapped around Blaise's waist.

" to harry and draco " everyone cheered

" to us " they silently whispered smiling at each other, with a look in their eyes, that was simply just their own, their love.

" I actually can't believe you took an entire minute to make this speech with basically no phrases such as electricity running through or how admirable harry looked. I means it's all sorta sparky " Ron joked. A few people around him laughed too including harry and draco.

As time went on, when everyone was almost done with dinner and simply hanging away slow dancing, chatting, making jokes, harry intertwined his fingers with those of draco's under the table and rested his head against draco's shoulder. Draco looked on his side to see his fiance finding his comfort in his neck. Smiling to himself, draco pressed a long kiss on top of Harry's head, bringing their hands to his lips and kissing over Harry's knuckles before resuming laughing at yet another one of Ron's jokes.

By midnight everyone had started to go downstairs in the house to crash over and a few of them leaving. Finishing up with the cleaning harry and draco too finally departed to their seperate bedrooms as per before marriage rituals. It was almost half an hour later when Draco heard a soft knock on his door. He opened the door cautiously to find harry standing there with a small smile.

" breaking the rules as usual " draco smirked as he turned around to let harry in behind him.

" well, that's just who I am. Besides your room have a nice balcony. Could use it " harry said as he shut the door softly and followed draco.

Draco finally turned smiling at his fiance, just staring at harry until he pulled them into the balcony, letting the moon wash over their bodies, making Harry's eyes sparkle more and draco's hair looking softer than usual.

" can you actually believe, we're getting married in less than 24 hours " draco said as he looked at the sky.

" it doesn't seem so different, does it ?" Harry asked as he stepped closer to draco and grabbing his hands to intertwine their fingers again.

" it doesn't " draco smiled as he kissed Harry's forehead. He too smiled at Draco and finally hugged draco, his arms hanging loosely around his waist , his head rested against draco's chest to hear the faint loveliest sound of his heartbeat. Draco put his chin on top of Harry's head, his arms too hanging loosely around Harry's back and just staying there like that.

" can I ask you something ?" Harry finally asked after moments of silence while watching the moon, different memories, different thoughts running in their own heads.

Draco hummed in response. Harry looked up at Draco, staring blankly as if he was trying to find something, but there was no freckle or a mole or anything left on draco's face yet for him to discover. He knew Draco better than he knew himself and it was just a small proud achievement.

" during that speech, you said something about saving your answer for this day, did you know we'd ever reach this far ?"

Draco pouted looking behind harry deciding on how to phrase it.

" I didn't. If this were to ever end, the secret would've died with me but I knew the only time I'd ever reveal it would the day before our marriage. And I did "

" so you Always wanted to get married ?"harry asked curiously in a Playful way.

" I think yeah. I never had anything close to having what we have, I'd had been a fool not to imagine whatever comes next " draco smiled at harry fondly, his hands tightening around his waist.

Harry looked at Draco amazed. Despite being together for so long, being with each other was Always a different adventure each day and this was their kind of adventure.

" when did you knew you loved me ?" Draco finally asked not looking away from harry.

" well- I think it was during the time you joined DMLE. Those deserts every Friday and the cup of coffee, they had the same handwriting on the Little notes you put into the desert box and on the coffee cup, I knew they were from you long before you told me, courtesy of stalking you all around 6th year "

" So you were obsessed with me " draco teased smirking.

" whatever helps you sleep at night " harry chuckled before he pressed his head against draco's chest again and stayed there in silence until harry had finally gone to his own bedroom, as silently as he had came.

The next day when harry and Draco finally stood against each other on the alter, after the vows, the ring ceremony, the speeches, the minister finally claimed

" I now pronounce you husband and husband, you may kiss each other "

Harry smirked at Draco holding his hands

" scared potter ?"

" you wish, Malfoy " draco smirked back.

And then they kissed, promising an eternity of love that even this life wasn't enough..

Requests open. This might be one of my favourite ones.

Day 29- sweet, sexy and practically fainting | Day 31- would you come back to me

[shyrose57]

YOO BROTHERS ANON BACK FROM THE DEAD? My phone started to fucking die half way (like extreme lag, keyboard stopped working at times, sudden shut offs, etc) and I was too scared to work on this in fear it'd get deleted. But im fucking back and have a new phone so I was able to finally finish. Plus after I finished the Brothers AU stuff I decided I hated Tip of The Iceburg AU lore and wanted to redo it so held off til I got that mostly done. I'm also trying to redo From Future to Past a lil bit but thats going slowly and decided I already waited way to long. Some other stuff happened as well like falling out of the fandom (Breath of The Wild and Linked Universe I got into and am actually still kinda in) then getting tossed back in but, anyway there's some smaller details I left out of Rans time living in the wild but everything here is the big stuff. 

Keep in mind most of this happens when he's just 13. And he never acknowledges or treats his trauma, leaving it to build and affect him more and more over time. 

When Ran first steps out of Mizu and into the world, he has nothing but a sword at his back and a book with little information on how to survive at his hip. The book really only provides him how to make certain things (like tools) and some basic information (Spiders are passive in daytime, how to farm, and basic information about each nether biome). The book acts more like a brief overview of the overworld and little information on how to survive than an actual survival book. Because of this the book is basically useless, Ran eventually uses it as a way of marking down notes and ripping out papers to cover wounds and tie things. He quickly learns that sleeping in high places (like a tree or a hole in a mountain) is the safest possible place to sleep, as no mobs or people can get him. Though due to the nights of constant screaming from mobs, his own internal fighting, and eventual hunting, he develops insomnia and paranoia. Leaving him unable to close his eyes in fear of being ambushed, believing himself to be forever unsafe and in danger. When he does manage to sleep he keeps his weapons nearby (like in his hand or under his pillow) and jumps awake at the slightest sound. 

He moves around constantly, never staying in one place for more than 2 weeks. He eventually finds a snow biome and after seeing the little amount of mobs and knowing the snow is to deep for any sane human to try to travel through, he decides to stay there for a entire year and a half before moving again. During this time he grows both physically and mentally. He goes from being a small, lithe 5'5 13 year old to being a strong 6'7 15 year old. He also uses this time to come to terms with what happened and swear revenge against Ranbob for everything he's been through and everyone who's died. Even when Ran came to terms with what his brother did, the promise "Ill never abandon you." Continues to ring in his head, which does nothing but fuel his hatred, believing his brother has been lying to him ever since he was a child. While also growing his knowledge on the world and his survival knowledge, becoming an almost perfect survivalist. 

When he was first alone and dealing with all the emotions brought upon him, he finds out he's hunted very suddenly. He first approached Raq (who he didn't know at the time) when he was desperate and fresh out of Mizu, asking him if there's any nearby town or city or really anything. Raq pretends to want to help Ran and let's him stay at his camp, giving him food and a warm place to sleep. But its 2 full days later, deep in the night when Raq finally trys to attack him, aiming to incapacitate him. But Ran is able to escape him and run away but not without a injury. 

During the fight Raq manages to hit him, specifically on his left ear. He manages to cut deep, but not deep enough, leaving the top of his ear just barely hanging on. Ran runs away and actually has a bit of a head start due to him tripping Raq. But Raq manages to follow/track him, due to the blood flowing out of Rans ear. Ran eventually realizes Raq is tracking him by the blood trail he's leaving, so he stops, steals himself, and rips off the remaining part of his ear, barely holding back a yell, then Ran pushes his hand down on the wound and continues to run. Raq finds the ear and simply hums, intrigued by the lengths Ran will go to escape, before turning around, deciding to let Ran escape this time, because he knows he'll see him again. Ran continues to run, terrified and borderline crying due to the fear and pain. For the next 3 days he believes he is still being followed by Raq so he continues to run, never resting until he eventually collapses from exhaustion. His ear eventually heals over but never grows back, it becomes a reminder of the fact he is being constantly hunted by people and will never escape them. 

Ran encounters Raq a total of 32 times during his time living out in the wild. And every time Ran manages to get away, though sometimes more injured than others. Eventually it gets to the point Raq greets Ran like a old friend. After their 3rd encounter Raq starts to bring others with him, eventually he has 5 others helping him hunt Ran. Though Ran grows and is able to either outwit them by using traps or is just simply able to avoid them most of the time. Though he still gets hit at times, once he made a mistake and a trap failed, leading to him getting stabbed and passing out cause blood loss.

The Nether is less than kind to Ran but kinder than the overworld. He gets shot a lot from both ghasts and skeletons. And almost falls into lava multiple times. He gets stabbed and trips more times than he can count. But he actually manages to make acquaintance with the Piglins he meets due to him being polite to them and giving them gold for nothing in return. He actually is close enough to them to get directions for free and is even given resistance potions when Ran states he is leaving and not coming back as a farewell and stay safe gift. He ends up staying in the Nether for much longer than a normal person would and becomes adapt at traversing and surviving in it. It almost becomes his safe spot because the hunters have never followed him into the Nether. He would've lived there if he could, but due to the heat he isn't used too and the fact he just despised Ghasts more than the hunters, and they were everywhere in there, he didn't stay. But would often vist. Eventually he found netherite which he quickly covered his first and only diamond sword with. His sword also had the enchantments, sharpness 2, unbreaking 3, and sweaping edge. Over time and use the enchantments dimmed, only faintly remaining. At this point Ran had to flee his snow biome house due to a sudden attack, leaving behind the materials he needed to fix the enchantments and his sword. So he abandoned using it, but kept it cause it helped him through years of fighting, he can't exactly drop and leave it.

Extra stuff I couldn't find a way to fit in:

-Ran manages to find a village but actually gets kicked out cause he punches the blacksmith for upping the price of an iron sword.

-Ran slowly grows more cold, uncaring, rude, and harsh over time due to trauma. He doesn't realize he became this way due to untreated trauma until he arrives to The Pit where Watson is able to help him start to slowly heal. Which is why he becomes more open and joking in The Pit because he feels safe and loved. 

-When the group leaves The Pit he becomes cold and hard again due to habit. Its his way of subconsciously defending himself.

-His body is covered in scars due to the hunters and his brushes with mobs. 

-Ran knows how to tailor his own clothes and has made many different kinds of clothes, all designed for certain biomes. 

-Ran never farmed, he always hunted.

-Ran never really built anything, instead he preferred to dig into the side of a mountain or make shelter in a cave. Its only in the snow biome did he actually build a house. And even then it was very clearly meant to be a temporary house. Though he did end up living there longer than he intended. 

-He was at first extremely reluctant to kill, but was forced to kill hunters and animals multiple times. To the point he became almost numb to it and wouldn't hesitate to kill if he was threatened. 

-He would sometimes dream about his family only for it to end with them being slaughtered, which really messed him up and he would just lay in bed mindlessly every time it happened. These dreams still happen. 

Also a edit to when the brothers met in the Pit, Ran actually gets his hands on a broken trident accidentally left in the arena (its the front end only, and the middle spike is shorter than the rest due to a error when being made) and ends up tripping Ranbob then stabbing the trident into the ground over him (if that makes sense?), actually trapping Ranbob, with the middle spike just above his throat, leaving him unable to move unless he wants to cut his neck and trapped on the ground. 

Tip of The Iceburg:

So Karl's watch is still damaged. And Isaac is still the one to convince him to seek help from the others. But midway through the meeting Phil speaks up, mentioning how he found a book in a ruined village that had a replica of Karl's Watch etched into the cover, but is in a language he's never seen. After passing it around the table no one recognizes it. Everyone's discouraged until Foolish suggests they look for the other Travelers (what ima call the Tales people) and maybe one of them will know. Eventually, with picture pinning of supposedly who could be in their world, they all split off into groups to look. Ran is still the first found, but when he's shown the book he actually confirms a part of it is in a old enderman language that fell off long ago, he's able to translate half of that section but says that Ranbob, who studied old languages much more thoroughly than Ran can do the rest (cause here their still brothers but nothing in Brothers AU happened). Giving everyone hope. Eventually Ranbob gets found and translates the rest, but a great amount is still untranslated, which is a problem. So now its a journey of finding more people and mixing languages to find out the rest. 

A sudden twist to the story happens when Billiam joins, and due to his experience with the egg is actually able to translate a random page in the back of the book (the egg made its own language to prevent its plans being discovered). Where they find out the egg is what broke Karls watch, because to it humans are nothing but entertainment, and it gets joy seeing them suffer and wants to mess with their lives. When it gets revealed to the rest of the SMP what the page says, everyone gets pissed. And even when its found how to get the Travelers home they refuse to leave until the egg is destroyed, a few are mad at it and want revenge, others are scared and want to try to prevent it from coming into their time. Karl eventually relents and lets them join in making a plan to take down the egg.  

Also have some fluff scenarios with the brothers since its been a while:

-There's two types of resistance potions in their world, fire resistance and water resistance. The latter of which the brothers have memorized how to make. Their friends do not know water resistance exists. Which leads to the brothers pranking their friends by drinking some then jumping into a lake. Giving Watson a heartattack and making Isaac sob. The two quickly reemerge seeing their reactions and calm them and reassure them. After the explanation you can bet they got a talking too and where grounded. 

-Ran teaches Ranbob to fight!

-Ranbob teaches Ran to fish, Ran complains the entire time. 

-Ranbob responds by threatening to teach Ran how to farm. Ran stops complaining after that….mostly

-Everyone has found the brothers either asleep against each other or one asleep on the other at least twice. 

-*insert Arthur get out of the tank meme but instead it's Ranbob trying to get Ran out of a tree so he can greet people.*

-Ran has his first night in years without a nightmare! 

Now something else I'm planning to work on soon: What happened to Ranbob after Ran left Mizu?

I hope me sending stuff is still ok after so long of sending nothing. 

Good to have you back, Brothers Anon! And sorry to hear about your phone, that sounds like it must've a day.

--------

Brothers AU:

I see we're back to Traumatize The Brothers Time, fantastic.

The fact that Ran has these items on him is interesting. Did he just have them with him when he was fleeing? Did he have the time to grab them? Was he preparing ahead? What led to him having these useful tools on hand when he was forced to flee?

How does he fare with mobs, being a mob hybrid himself? I think it's somewhat been implied that he's good with Endermen, but what about others?

How do the gladiator gang go about helping with his insomnia and paranoia, if they are aware of it?

What's it like for him during his time in the snow-biome, since he's there for awhile? Does he make a more-permanent camp/shelter? Do anything particularly interesting?

Poor Ran! That must've been quite the shock for him, and I imagine it didn't help his trust issues.

How does he get to the Nether? Does he have a base there? What do the piglins think of him, and vice versa? How does the Nether life effect him overall?

What happened to those materials left behind? Where they discovered? Does he manage to go back and get them on the roadtrip? Do they visit his homes on the trip?

How does the group react to his sudden change when they're leaving? What kind of clothes does he make? Does he ever make some for the others? Does he enjoy it, or is it just because it's necessary?

How do the fishermen feel about the close call with the trident, and what happens to the weapon?

------------

Tip Of the Iceberg:

I don't remember if this was mentioned before, but was it Karl's watch that caused the issue then? Who wrote the book? Does the egg have a connection with them?

How do they fare with their plans to take down the Egg(and potentially the Eggpire, if that's a thing here)? How do those with previous experience with Egg feel about this, and what part do they play?

--------

Fluff! At long last!

I love how their thought process went to that. 'We can make water resistance potions, lets jump in a lake in front of our friends'.

That sounds like it should be entertaining.

Ranbob knows how to farm?

That's such a funny mental image. 'Ran, get out of the tree, you have to socialize'. 'Hissing'.

Yay, good for him!

Ooo, what?

Always.

[samanthadalton]

Star crossed lovers (au)

pairings: poppy x mc (bea) 

warnings: throughout this fic (there will be a bunch of parts to it) there will be mentions of substance abuse, homophobia, sexual abuse, violence, NSFW, mentions of abandonment, depression and death including suicide 

reader discretion is advised

(this chapter is more about setting up the basis of the story so is more context than anything else, part 2 will be more interesting I swear 😭, also it’s like 4am so if there’s any gramatical mistakes I’ll fix it later) 

taglist: @somewillwin @save-me-the-last-dance @baexpoppy @cloud9in @simpforpoppy @ognenniyvolk (I’m pretty sure this is my tag list if you wanna be added or taken off for future chapters just ask 😊) 

word count: 3.6k 

Part 1: The introduction

As the sun began to set, the houses along the street began to bask in its warm glow. The neighbourhood is quiet, like always, excluding the occasional car engine rumbling through the roads until they disappear into the distance and once again the silence is deafening. This neighbourhood was your typical suburban type, their structures stood tall and bold. Looking from an aerial point of view, one could argue that it’s almost like the houses have been copied and pasted along the street, they almost look perfect. One theory is that they were purposely made to look like they're perfect because they don’t want anyone to find out their secrets. It’s harder to catch a true glimpse when everything looks flawless.

If you compare the northside and the southside of Greensburg, it makes it seem like they’re living in two different worlds and maybe they are. The polarisation between the rich and the poor only becomes bigger, demonstrated by the high socio-economic backgrounds of those who lived in the north who go to the best schools, have the best jobs and sometimes own more than one house. Compared to those in a low socio economic background in the south, who usually have to work two jobs just to feel some sort of financial stability in their lives or have no choice but to indulge in illegal jobs just so they can feel some sort of power and superiority and have money of course. Only a few in the south are able to lead a straight and narrow life and successfully do it without having to engage in the culture of illegal activities. 

Bea Hughes, a girl who lives in Greensburg is someone who managed to immerse herself in both worlds. She used to be part of the upper class lifestyle but after life fucked her and her family over at the tender age of 8 years old, she was pulled into another world, one that she quickly had to acquaint herself with, because in the south, survival matters. The luxuries she once knew as a kid had disappeared and she constantly lived in a fight or flight situation. Now as her senior year of high school looms ahead, she finds herself still living in a similar situation, but instead of dealing with gangs or her addict of a mother, she had to deal with stuck up rich kids in Greensburg’s most prestigious school, Belvoire, which may have been her toughest obstacle of all. Against all odds, Bea managed to earn a scholarship at this private school when she was 15, and in order to keep her place, she has to maintain a 4.0 GPA, join at least one extra curricular activity and immerse herself into the culture of the school (whatever that meant). 

Even though life managed to be shitty most of the time, there was one constant, one thing that made life worth living, one thing that made her the happiest…

“Crap”, the brunette clung onto the branch of the tree trying to regain her footing after narrowly avoiding her death (or more likely a trip to the hospital). After recovering from her mild slip, she rapped on the window beside her and a few seconds later the window slides open and as she enters the room she trips up on her own feet landing face down on the floor. 

“Real smooth”

Bea chuckles at the snark comment as she looks up and as the sunlight shines through the window, it highlights all the features of the other girl. She was shorter than Bea (although not in this moment since Bea was practically laying on the floor), her facial features were sharp and her strawberry blonde hair fell perfectly around her shoulders. Her plush pink lips were curled up in a small smile as she offered a hand to the girl to help her up. 

“I totally meant to do that” Bea takes her hand and lifts herself off the floor, and after she quickly dusts herself off and grabs the blonde’s wrist pulling her towards her while her other hand settles on her waist. “So how much time do we have?”

The petite girl wounds her arms around the taller girl’s neck and slightly tip toes to whisper, “my dad has dinner with a bunch of investors so he’s not going to be back until midnight”. A huge smile appears on her face as she leans back slightly taking in the appraising look of the brunette. 

“Perfect”. 

Bea moves in to kiss the blonde, passion already igniting as their tongues tangle in a fight for dominance until Bea suddenly pulls away, foreheads touching, eyes blazing with desire as she whispers against the other girl’s lips, “I missed you Pops”. 

The other girl rolls her eyes and unwinds her arms from Bea’s neck, slightly pushing her back and while maintaining eye contact she walks backwards towards the bed and sits on the edge, “shuttup, you literally saw me yesterday” her tone attempting to come across as catty but instead comes out in a more playful manner. 

Bea raises an eyebrow as she saunters to where the girl is sitting and places two fingers under the girl’s chin lifting her face until their eyes meet, “so? I’m suddenly not allowed to miss my girlfriend?” She leans in, her lips ghosts around the blonde’s lips. 

“You talk too much, come on we’re wasting daylight” the blonde grabs Bea’s shirt and pulls her down onto the bed with her as they tussle in the sheets, lips crashing against one another reigniting the same passion from the kiss before. 

“Poppy..” Bea all but moans when Poppy places wet kisses along her jawline and begins biting at her neck. Not wanting her to have all the fun, Bea suddenly flips Poppy over pressing her deeper into the mattress as she ravenously kisses her, as if Poppy is the only one who can satiate her desire, and honestly speaking? She probably is. 

“No more foreplay, I want you now” Poppy breathlessly says, breaking the heated kiss. Bea sits up to straddle Poppy, intertwining both hands with hers and places it above the blonde’s head and grinds on her hips earning a low groan from Poppy. 

“Ask and you shall receive my queen”

In response, Poppy rolls her eyes and her tongue darts out of her mouth, teasingly moving against her own soft lips and as Bea leans in for another kiss her slender fingers move lightly above Poppy’s inner thigh, touching everywhere except where Poppy wanted her the most. After a few pleads from the blonde, Bea finally indulges her desires and they moved in perfect syncopation. 

….. 

After a while, Bea and Poppy collapse into each other’s arms, exhausted but satisfied recovering from their physically demanding rendezvous. Bea lays on her back with one arm behind her head and one arm wrapped around the petite girl who fit perfectly in her larger frame. Poppy relaxes her head on Bea’s chest, feeling lulled by her heartbeat which brings her a sense of calm and security. Bea softly kisses her forehead and looks down at the girl, entranced by her beauty, enrapturing the way her breaths are slightly longer and deeper than usual, the way her hair falls around her face and how her fingers subconsciously ghost around Bea’s stomach drawing lazy shapes. 

Poppy Min Sinclair, a 5’2 blonde beauty who is Bea’s entire world. Everything about her screams perfection in Bea’s eyes. She’s a straight A student, captain of the cheerleading team, and likes to spend time volunteering at her local animal shelter and is secretly an amazing artist. Though her family was one of the richest families in Greensburg, Poppy wasn’t your average highschool rich girl. Though she would often go on regular shopping sprees and refuse to wear anything that wasn’t designer (unless it was Bea’s clothes), she never treated Bea any differently than how others would. She was a bright girl, who was loving, friendly, fierce when she needed to be and extremely loyal. When it was just her and Bea she could show her true self, not pretend to be someone she’s not or play a certain role, she could just simply be Poppy instead of Poppy Min Sinclair. Poppy often felt the gravity that came with her name, especially since that’s all her father pressured her to be, a Min Sinclair. 

Hayden Min Sinclair, Poppy’s father, owned an entire empire of companies, differentiating from technology based businesses to architecture and finance. To say he was a businessman was putting it lightly, he was almost like a god or at least someone who was highly worshipped by business moguls. He built up his family’s name and within a decade he was a force to be reckoned with. Hayden Min Sinclair worked his ass off to lift his companies off the ground because as a person of colour he knew he would have to work 10x harder to get what he wanted. All he ever wants is life for his daughter to be easy, the irony is, that he’s one of the main reasons why it’s so hard. 

He’s a man of honour and pride and has never expected anything less from his daughter, hoping she would keep the dignity attached to the Min Sinclair name and bring it to new heights. So his traditionalist and conservative views means that he’s expecting Poppy to marry a man, who’s also an aristocrat, in which Bea is 0 for 2 for Poppy’s father’s expectations. Hence, Bea and Poppy have to keep their relationship a secret, a way to protect both Poppy and her future but also Bea from Mr Min Sinclair’s wrath. Reputation means everything to the Min Sinclairs and to Mr Min Sinclair specifically, especially after Poppy’s mother passed away when Poppy was 10 after an unfortunate incident of a drunken hit and run which left Poppy permanently broken from the loss of her mother but had all the socialites gossiping about the tragedy for months. To this day Poppy and her father still mourn her loss and Poppy often turns to Bea for comfort, for her companionship could provide the means of making her forget the empty presence of her mother that was left behind. 

They’d known each other since they were 7, when Bea used to live in the very same neighbourhood after the Min Sinclair’s moved into the neighbourhood, and they spent almost every waking hour together, attached by the hip. They were the best of friends and almost nothing could get in their way. Emphasis on the ‘almost’. 

When Bea’s father left Bea’s mother, Isabella when Bea was 8 and her sister Aria was 2, after finding out that Aria wasn’t his child as a result of a one night stand Isabella had, Bea’s family struggled to afford to live in the neighborhood especially since Bea’s father was the breadwinner of the house and their main source of income. After a series of bad decisions resulting in Bea’s mother losing her job as a banker, the 3 girls were forced to move to the south of Greensburg since it was the only thing they could afford. 

Bea and Poppy were still inseparable at this point, either Bea would take 2 buses to go to Poppy’s house or Poppy would call the family’s driver so she could go over the Bea’s. The breaking point for their friendship was the day when Bea’s mother once took the girls to the park when they were 11 and after she had gotten so intoxicated to the point she threw up in front of all the children, and Poppy’s father prohibited Poppy from seeing Bea again. 

“That girl and her family will bring shame to our family’s name, imagine what your mother would say” Poppy can still hear her father’s words ringing in her head from time to time, but everytime she looks at Bea, all her expectations would disappear and she would just simply be happy.

They began dating when they were 14, after Poppy had managed to scrounge up all her courage to kiss Bea on valentine’s day, after the two girls had snuck away to a diner to hang out like they would usually do. Poppy looked as if she was going to pass out from embarrassment when Bea didn’t reciprocate the kiss at first, however in Bea’s defence she was more startled than anything else. When Poppy was about to apologise Bea moved in and gave Poppy a sweet and chaste kiss on the lips and from then they decided they would be together. Bea couldn’t believe her luck when she was able to call Poppy hers, she felt like she didn’t have much to offer Poppy as she had yet to have earned the scholarship to Belvoire, the same school that Poppy had been attending. As well as coming from a troubled family life she didn’t want to implicate Poppy in any way but staying away from her had proven to be too difficult. 

The consequences of their forbidden love was much harder on her than it was on Poppy, still nevertheless she would do anything for Poppy, which was proven time and time again when they have to act like strangers at school. In spite of that, the stolen glances, the stolen moments, the stolen kisses, it made it all worth it. 

“Are you ready for school tomorrow” Poppy’s soft voice vibrated against Bea’s chest. 

Bea lets out a soft chuckle, “What do you think Pops? I’m the school’s lonely girl”

Bea’s reputation at Belvoire could not be worse, in a school filled with entitled brats, it was difficult for her to make any friends considering her economic background. She also couldn’t rely on Poppy and her popularity since she couldn’t be within any vicinity of the girl she loves. Bea and Poppy’s friends had a history of not getting along, and since Poppy couldn’t allow the true nature of her relationship with Bea to come to light, Bea had to deal with all sorts of harassment and bullying from them. Bea often had to remind herself that she was only a target because with money comes a lot of entitlement, especially from snobby teenagers. Moreover, the consequences of her mother’s actions also didn’t help Bea as the stories followed her everywhere, causing all sorts of rumours to spread like wildfire. 

Poppy lifted her head slightly to look into Bea’s eyes, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant it’s the last year of highschool, that means one last chance for us to win nationals and for you to come on top for volleyball.”

As mentioned beforehand, the extra curricular Bea chose to partake in was volleyball, not only did being part of a winning sports team look good on a college application, it also helped Bea with releasing her pent up anger and dominating her competition. Her favourite thing in particular was the smaller group of cheerleaders, including Poppy, who were at every game after Poppy made a compelling argument to the principle about the importance of raising school spirit in all sport related inquiries. Bea would often steal a glimpse at Poppy, who always came up with extra dance moves and cheers, sending secret messages that she was rooting for her girlfriend. 

“One more year of highschool, do you know what that means Pops?” Bea smiled devilishly at Poppy who returned the smile and leaned her face in, lips ghosting around Bea’s. 

“Why don’t you remind me?”

Bea grabbed the blonde’s waist and stole a quick kiss, “One more year means that next year we’ll both be in New York, and we can finally be together for real”. 

“I can’t wait to live off campus with you, we should start looking at places now so we can get ahead and find a good place sin-” Bea cuts her off with a kiss while Poppy smiles, “I hate when you interrupt me with kisses”

“No you don’t”

“You’re right I don’t, but you better not slack this year Bea Hughes otherwise I’ll beat your ass if you don’t get into Columbia”

“I would never, I’m literally a better student than you babe. I would say you shouldn’t slack either but we all know daddy’s going to help you get into NYU.”

Poppy playfully slaps Bea on the arm who just laughs, “hey, no way in hell am I going to use the Min Sinclair name like that, when” (she made sure to put extra emphasis as she spoke) “I get into NYU it will be because of how amazing and talented I am” 

“Not to mention damn right gorgeous and smart and incredibly flexible”

Poppy moves to straddle Bea, hands on either side of her head and she leans in, “hmm, you think the admission office will be looking at those particular things?” her tone teasing and inviting. 

Bea attempts to move her head up only for Poppy to quickly place her perfectly manicured hand around her neck and push her down, Bea’s eyes flash as her voice pulsates with desire, “well I’ll definitely be looking, for educational reasons of course”

Poppy breaks out into a wide grin as the girls share a passionate kiss, tongues tangled together as they fight for dominance, Bea tries to envelop Poppy’s entire mouth with her kiss but Poppy’s unrelenting perseverance pushes through as she tightens the grip around Bea’s neck, pushing her deeper into the mattress. Bea succumbs to Poppy’s kisses and allows the blonde’s tongue to explore the inside of her mouth, getting lost in the wave of pleasure that emanates from Poppy’s lips. 

After a few more kisses, Bea looks at the digital clock sitting on top of Poppy’s dresser, “damn it’s getting late I should go”

“Wha- it’s barely 10 o’clock”, Poppy pouts as her eyebrows furrow slightly. 

“I know” Bea places a hand on Poppy’s face gently brushing against her cheekbone, ���but you need your 8 hours of sleep and I gotta make sure everything is ready for Aria tomorrow”. 

Poppy sighs defeatedly as she knows how important Bea’s half sister is to her, she’s practically an older sister to Aria and is also incredibly protective of her too. “Well tell Aria I said hi”

Bea moves to stand and Poppy grabs her hand, “wait, you didn’t tell me, how’s your mom?”

Bea nonchalantly shrugged and gazed at the floor, “same old, same old, she drinks herself into oblivion not giving a shit about the rest of us” 

Poppy rubbed comforting circles on Bea’s hand, “don’t worry Bea one day it will get better” 

Bea lets out a humourless laugh, “I’ve been saying that for almost 10 years”

She stalks over to the window and lets half of her body hang out ready to reach out to the tree, Poppy moves over and gives Bea one last lingering kiss, “You know you can use the front door, my dad’s not here”

“Yeah I know but it’s always so awkward when I run into Rita at this time because she knows that I’m screwing you”, Bea smiles while Poppy raises an eyebrow

“Screwing me?”

“Sorry I meant making love to you” she gives Poppy a quick kiss 

“Much better, and anyways Rita doesn’t care, she’s been rooting for us this entire time”

“It’s okay, don’t worry P, I’ve been climbing in and out of these windows and over that gate for years, how else do you think I got these muscles”, she flexes her toned arms while Poppy runs a hand over them, “I love you”

“I love you too”, Poppy watches as Bea moves out of the window, gripping the tree and making her descent, “wait” she shouts down, “where did you leave your bike?”

Bea smiles up at her, “I parked it a couple of blocks away from here it’s fine, I’ll text you when I get home” she blows a kiss to Poppy and begins making her way over the gate and into the street which shone bright from the lampposts. Poppy sighs and closes her window and begins getting ready for bed until a knock at her door catches her attention. Rita, her nanny and keeper enters the room and looks at Poppy with a knowing glance, ‘Bea didn’t want to stay for dinner?’ 

Poppy laughs slightly and shakes her head, “no she had to get home to make sure her sister is okay”

Rita leaves a plate with a few cucumber and cheese sandwiches on the dresser, “don’t stay up too late Miss Min Sinclair,” and with that she gives a little wave and leaves the room closing the door behind her. After eating half of her sandwich and going through her extensive nighttime routine, she receives a text from Bea

💖 B

Just got home now 

Love you and goodnight my love

Poppy smiles at her phone and then sets her phone on her dresser, not before putting it on charge, and drifts off to sleep. 

Bea on the other hand was wide awake. When she safely parked her motorbike near her house and texted Poppy as she entered the house. She looked up from her phone into the dark room to see the tv quietly playing while her mother was passed out on the couch with a half drunk bottle of vodka on the table. She moved towards the couch covering her mom with a blanket and then went into her bedroom to check on her sister who was soundly sleeping in her bed. Bea headed into the kitchen took some cold pizza from the fridge and did some last minutes checks to make sure both her and her sister were equipped and ready for school tomorrow. She settled in her bed, her mind racing with thoughts about school and how challenging the first day back will be. 

read part 2: 

[shenzcorner]

Shenz’s Undertale Fanfic Recommendations

‘Ello! Just a main post of fics I’ve read and enjoyed and hopefully you’ll find a few that suit you. I’ll update it as I find more and edit should new developments happen.

But also be mindful of the rating notes I put, because I am an ADULT so most of them will be 18+ or 16+ and further warnings of it’s content will be given as well. And be mindful of the tags of the stories as well.

They aren’t in any specific order and just grouped according to type of reader/MCs.

POLY FICS: 

Human!Readers/OCs fics

1. The House on Lane 66 by  OolongTeacup (NOTE: EXPLICIT WORK. 18+ because of adult themes and activities.)

Summary:  You just started your last year of college and you need a job. Badly. When a wanted ad online leads you to the forests surrounding Mt. Ebott, to a giant, brick house full of monsters, you wonder if this might be worth it. Some of these monsters seem alright; friendly, even. Others - downright terrifying. ...but you really need this job.

2. Free Love by @happytheoristdreamer​ (NOTE: Mature - EXPLICIT rating. 18+ for adult themes.)

Summary:  Barista by day and DJ by night (Gigs only). Sadly, that’s not enough for you to get by and you are put out of your home suddenly. You have nowhere to go but you get picked up by a regular customer that you see every day. He offers you a helping hand and you accept. Moving into his place until you’re back on your feet. But you weren’t expecting to live in a full house of skeleton monsters.

3.  Witches And Demons Are Very Different by SaltyLemonJuice (NOTE: EXPLICIT rating. 18+. Graphic depictions of violence. Adult themes. Tagged with Fontcest, but I can’t recall seeing any but just be safe for those that don’t like that.) ((Hasn’t been updated in over a year))

Summary: I'm the Devil, I can do what I want. Whatever I got I'm gonna flaunt. -Tenacious D. 

Inheriting a large house leaves too much room to take care of, so you ask the monster house sitter if she knows anyone who will want to move in. She smiles and suggests this 'family' who has been needing a big enough place for a while. You decide why not let some strangers into your home and play hotel for skeletons.

Monster!Readers/OCs fics

1. Skeleton x Skeleton by @pumpkinflash (NOTE: Mature. 16+)

Summary:  You're a mystic skeleton who was heading to Ebott City for some monster food, when you got caught in a trap. You end up getting saved by a ghost skeleton and a weird skeleton who invite you to spend the night at their house. Life was already pretty interesting but who new meeting random skeletons in the wood could make your life way more interesting and exciting. Not that you're complaining.

2. Fucking Superb You Funky Little Bat by @itsthesinbin (NOTE: NSFW is on their blog and the story has graphic descriptions of violence)

Summary: You don't know much- you don't remember your name, your past, or even what you looked like as a human. You only know a few things: How to get food, when you need blood, and when to find shelter. Something you really don't know? Why some walking, talking Skeletons insist on bringing you burnt food every day.

3. The Spirit of the Wolf by DragonFire234 (NOTE: Mature. Graphic depictions of violence and gore in certain chapters. Aspects of dubcon with the element of Forced Soul Bonding.)

Summary:  She was going to survive, all she had to do was wait. When the skeleton monsters joined her, she felt pity that they were in her situation. When they finally broke out, she needed to get as far away from the humans as possible, to freedom. She didn't expect to meet other versions of the two skeleton brothers she met in her prison, and she didn't like that two were trying to intimidate her. If anyone was in charge, it was her. She wouldn't knuckle under while being tortured, and she wasn't about to start now.

4.  The Thornberry Magus and the Skeletons by AmbrosiaOfStories (NOTE: Mature. 16+. There is a warning for graphic depictions of violence.)

Summary:  Born from a thorned "Atropa belladonna"—or a nightshade (berry) bush and the blood of a Mage, you were considered an abomination upon your brethren of the Fae Folk for many centuries. You roamed the world as an outcast; studying humanity as it rose and fell, only to repeat the process time and again, and gaining knowledge outside of the Faerie Realm. Until one day, your sins were forgiven as you put yourself on the line to save the Faerie Realm from unjust damnation at the cost of half of your power. That was 150 years ago, and now—in the year 20XX—with the release of your races’ long lost brethren, the Monsters; the world of Humans and Fae are shaken once more…However…Something is strange…

5. But No One Came by @miniember​ (NOTE: EXPLICIT. 18+. Adult themes. Fontcest/Sanscest/Papsest is in this story.)

Summary: Reader eats some monster food and BAM, she can see stats. A few months later, seeing stats outside of encounters has completely destroyed her life so she packs up and moves away. A chance encounter with a lanky skele sends her life in a new direction. Who knows if its a good one?

----------------------------

Season 1: Fluffy Beginnings (Chapters 1-11) Season 2: Nightmare Arc (12-22) Season 3: ??? (23-??)

Sinful Chapters: 2*

[normal-thoughts-official]

Hey ever since u posted ur Maia x Raphael fic I've been hit with so much feelings for them so imagine my sadness when there's only your fic on ao3 that has them as a couple, also here on tumblr there's only 2 posts of them *insert sadangry emoji here*

you know what, I'm just gonna take this opportunity to

Why Maiaphael is a bomb af pairing that deserves all the love and content

A manifesto by me

Okay, so whenever i think of Maiaphael, i think of Taki's. Not (just) as the place, but as what it means for Maia, could mean for Raphael, and what that reveals about the both of them, and the absolute potential that a relationship between them has.

When Maia created Taki's, she had a very specific goal in mind: to create a place that could bring all kinds of downworlders together, where they could be safe and also build a real community together. This is explicitly said, and Maia's desire and even need to draw people together is mentioned many times, and arguably one of the core traits of her character.

She mentions how her relationship with Simon is important to her because it could bring werewolves and vampires together. She cares about and loves her pack, and wants to keep them together and safe.

Maia's been kicked out of her home, and survived abuse, not to mention she's black; she knows, better than anyone, the importance of having a strong, supportive community, and she works hard towards building one always. Taki's is a project that serves that purpose, while also allowing her to do what she loves (cooking, bartending, meeting new people).

On the last episode, they show Raphael at Taki's, talking to her, and look - we all know Raphael loves cooking, how much it means to him, and he has experience cooking for big crowds because of his volunteering. And the way that it fits is just.

First of all, we know that cooking serves pretty much that exact same purpose for Raphael. Cooking, for him, is about caring for others and bringing people closer together. This is shown by the fact that he made it a point to volunteer to cook for his sisters' elderly home, because he wanted to be able to give this to her; this is shown by the fact that when he fell in love with Izzy, the first thing he did was teach her how to cook his traditional dishes, which was clearly something very intimate and meaningful to him. This is shown by the fact that, once he's kicked out to Detroit, losing his Clan that is canonically like a family to him, he immediately started cooking at a shelter; it's a way for him to share his culture, history and feelings, and to bring people closer together, like at Taki's.

Family and community matter to Raphael as much as they do to Maia, that is very clearly what drives his character. And just the fact that he understands what Taki's is all about, what food is all about, makes Maia trust him to help her run the place. He's not only a great cook, he's someone who cares about the same things as she does, and who would pour their heart and soul into this project just like her, because he wants the same things out of it.

(Besides, doesn't hurt to have a werewolf and a vampire working together. That is half of the point, after all)

But also!!! This is so important to Raphael too, because, for so long, he's used cooking as a way to do something for others, and to repent. Food is a way to bring people together, but he does it in a way that leaves him at the sidelines. He excludes himself from the process, like he doesn't deserve the happiness it brings.

If Raphael started working at Taki's - that'd be different. Because he'd get to see the fruits of his work, to have a community he's a part of attend it, to be a part of this project. To enjoy the fruits of his labor, to see the results, to bring people together. To have a home.

I'm emo over Raphael and food again but anyway the point is that they could build such a great, trusting relationship as they worked together okay. From trying out new recipes to discussing decorations and even doing inventory, they have the same vision, they feel the same love, and they respect each other, fiercely. They're that kind of in sync where they work together without even having to look at each other, already knowing what they are doing. They handle the stress of running a restaurant together, and they enjoy it together, too.

And I'm just saying that it'd be so good for the both of them to have this kind of easy, trusting relationship? God knows Maia needs and deserves someone to trust, someone who wants her to achieve her best and get exactly what she dreams of, and Raphael needs someone as fiercely hardworking as Maia, who's willing to create the world she wants. He admires her, too, for how proactive she is, how she never gives up and does what's right. Maia admires how he can sometimes be the calm to her storm, how steadily he always steps and makes way to reach their goals. They complement each other, okay.

And speaking of complement I just gotta throw it out there that Maiaphael has huge sun/moon energy okay. In two different ways. Maia is fierce and joyful and beautiful and she shines and creates; Raphael is calm, and reliable, and through him her shine gains new, beautiful colors. Raphael is drawn to, and has been kept from, the sun. He loves it and basks in it and thrives under it. While the moon is usually associated with the sorrow of werewolves, but through Raphael, she reclaims it as part of herself.

But I can also see them the other way around - there's a melancholy about Maia, so much she hides and so much trauma she's been through, while there's a fierceness in Raphael, a neverending fight, and a room for that burning happiness that we got a glimpse of in the last episode that's been kept away. In that sense, he can also be the sun that shines through her, gives her his strength, and takes his place at the back, letting her do her own, breathtaking spectacle.

And how cool is that? They're complementary, but they're also complex, ever-changing, they rotate and create their own particular dynamic that allows them to find the best in so many sides of themselves. They can switch from one to the other when they're together, Maia can allow herself her slower, quieter days, and Raphael can find the strength to let himself shine bright, like he deserves. They get to be completely real with each other, to Contain Multitudes, and know that the other is just as vast and well equipped to support them in every role.

They're also both fiercely loyal and protective, and you know they'd do anything for each other, but they'd do it together. They'd do it side by side, not on each other's backs like we've seen so many times in the show with other couples. They'd build solutions with each other, not try to sacrifice themselves for each other. They have that kind of camraderie, and trust.

I mean, Raphael does have his self sacrificing tendencies when he gets in that mood (lmao) but that wouldn't fly with Maia. He'd try to solve a problem behind her back and she'd be furious, shove him, and tell him never to do that again, because she won't lose anyone else, and she won't have anyone trying to take the wheels of her life from her hands again. Anyone. No matter how well-intentioned. He doesn't get to decide this without her. He can't.

And Raphael apologizes, and wonder for a second how it never occured to him that he should just trust Maia to let him help her, when that's what they've been doing from the start.

And they're just so respectful of each other's boundaries in that way. Raphael knows not to try and take the lead from Maia, and he gives her space when she needs without her even needing to ask, and she does the same. She'd never pressure him to give her anything sexual, not even a single peck, and still be so undeniably affectionate. They would support each other without being overbearing, be able to allow each other their silence, their musings, their trauma and pain.

Raphael would also want fiercely for Maia to follow her dream of studying marine biology, I just know it, and support her through it in so many ways. Taking some of her responsibilities at Taki's when it's time for midterms. Helping her study. Going to hers with groceries, making sure she's eating, and drinking water, that her place is well ventilated and that she's okay. I have very soft images in my head of Maia sitting with her back to Raphael's chest, focused on her book, as he just strokes her hair, rubs her shoulders, and lets her study. It's good and nice and he is just there for her, silently helping make sure that she doesn't lack anything, that she can relax.

Also, as both of them are leaders of their people, there is so much they can share and understand about that, and even more beautiful things they can build together in that sense.

It's the kind of love that blossoms as steadily as their relationship, sure and deep and slow, with strong foundations, and infinite care. By the time they notice it's happened, they've already become an integral part not only of each other's life, but of each other's happiness. They come to care for each other, and trust each other, and be a part of each other, before they even realize what's happening. When the penny drops, it's almost funny, the both of them a little breathless by the fact that oh, they've fallen in love. And Maia asks, "what are we?" and Raphael says "something important," and Maia laughs and asks if that means he could be her boyfriend.

"Yeah," Raphael says, smiling, private but real and all for her, "yeah," and he takes her hand and kisses it. She kisses his hand back, and he's charmed, and happy, and their hands stay together over the table as they share nothing but joy and silence. The moment is steady and happy, just like them, and it feels perfect.

[trashtheater101]

Prompts

Been meaning to make this for a while: Free list of skele-prompts! No credit needed (although I’d love to read it if you make one, maybe drop me a note?), and feel free to change ANY of the details or ships. This list is meant to ✧INSPIRE✧ not restrict. 

These are largely old ideas that I realize I’m probably never going to get around to writing myself and thought I’d share. Mostly Papcest, but there’s some left open for Fontcest and Sanscest, and you can always change it up. I probably forgot some, so I’ll add to it as I remember them.

RoyalMoney (Poppy/Cash)

Poppy is a wealthy, and unbearably bored Nigerian prince. Kept safe and sound, a prisoner in the castle by his overprotective brother, Poppy is allowed only limited contact with the guards or servants, and nothing at all with the outside world. When a thief breaks in through his bedroom window (captured easily by the Great Prince Poppy! He’s sheltered, not helpless!), Poppy can't help being intrigued… [His brother can shove it; He’s decided to keep this one.]

Fellcest (Red/Edge)

Red is a scientist. Or at least he used to be. He’s studied the wonders of the universe, tested the limits of time-space, and even broken through the divides between worlds. […none of it compared to learning the way his brother reacts to flirting.]

SpicyHoney (Edge/Stretch(Rus))

Edge is a loyal knight, through and through, and Rus is the true heir to the throne. Edge is determined to protect him no matter the cost. Even now that the kingdom has been overthrown and they were barely able to escape with their lives. Even now that they must keep moving, and live in hiding, lest Rus be captured and executed. Even though Rus is used to being pampered and spoiled, and Edge is the only one left to treat him with the sort of devotion and reverence that a true prince deserves. [Originally a Edge x Anyone, but the pouty, stubborn prince kept morphing into Rus, soooo…]

Edge and Stretch are stuck in a car together for a long trip, and expect to bicker the whole time. Unfortunately 5 minutes in one of them accidentally confesses. Neither are prepared for this, and now the car ride is spent dealing with THIS instead... oh dear… 

Stretch needs to get a physical. Cool, no big, even doctors aren’t sure what to do with a pile of bones, so no point in being embarrassed, and—bonus!—most don’t know how skeleton magic works, so he gets to skip the more invasive stuff. Except—wait—this time his doctor is a skeleton? A really hot skeleton?? And since Stretch is missing so much from his chart, he’s getting a THOROUGH exam??? ...great… [Bonus points for Stretch aggressively flirting to hide his nerves, “w-wow doc. i don’t usually spread my legs before the first date, haha. guess you must be special.”]

SpicyBBQ (Edge/Slim)

Edge’s new lamia is a dominant type, strong, and eager to breed him. But Edge isn’t inclined to submit, and he’s pretty sure he knows exactly how to tame his horny pet. [Succeed or fail, both are tasty~.]

MapleBlossom (Slim/Papyrus)

Slim is the lead singer/guitarist/drummer in an up and coming band. Hanging out at an afterparty of one of his shows, some cute little groupie, or a fan, or whatever, catches his attention when they start chatting him up. Slim is charmed, and while he’s got a pretty firm rule about not fucking the fans, he’s gotta make an exception this time. He’s gonna rock this groupies world. [Except that Papyrus isn’t a groupie. Or a fan. He was just invited along by a friend and thought this stranger might want someone to talk to. But boy is he flattered by all the attention! Is this… flirting?!?] 

SweetMoney (Sugar(HT!Pap)/Cash)

Taking his first ever train trip to the big city, Sugar ends up sitting next to a stranger. Cash seems friendly enough on the ride, but when they get off he refuses to leave??? He keeps insisting it’s too dangerous for someone like Sugar to be alone in the city, and that all well and good, but Sugar’s pretty sure he has a stalker now??? Blood had warned him about this… oh well… For a stalker, Cash is awfully charming. 

Edge x _______

Edge is an Alpha. All the Papyruses are Alphas, so of course he’s an Alpha. He is the most Alpha-y-est Alpha to ever Alpha, thank you very much. And as long as he keeps taking his Alpha-supplements, surely no one will be any the wiser. But the supplements can only repress his instincts so much when he’s surrounded by so many fine, aggressively-dominant Alphas. And let’s be real, how long would it really take a group of Alphas to notice an Omega in their midst? [Easily could be one-on-one, but this prompt is feeling pretty gang-bang-y to me~] 

In hindsight I think I may have seen this idea around before (so let me know if it’s already a thing…), but Edge as a Heinz Doofenshmirtz-(Or like MegaMind, Dr. Horrible, fuckin.... Team Rocket??)-style villain! Over the top dramatic! But also pretty ridiculous... But definitely EVIL!!!!! But also is he though??? Red is his henchman. His love interest can be the Hero, but also could be his usual kidnapping victim, or the cute skele from the laundry mat, or I suppose his henchman, or a brand-new unique dynamic! 

Loud Top Edge. That’s really all I’ve got for this prompt. It really didn’t have to be under Edge specifically… you could make it anyone, but I was thinking of Edge. ...as just... a… noisy… really verbal top... yeah...~<3

Papyrus x _______

Someone has been stealing apples from Papyrus’s apple orchard, and he is determined to catch the culprit! [Well, it turns out the culprit happens to be very attractive and that is a whole new, very different problem!]

Papyrus x _______/Sans x _______

Undertale is Universe 0. It’s the base, the original, the one every universe is spun off of. As such, there is some sort of general law of attraction pulling all the copies towards their originals. Or at least, that’s Sans’s theory anyway. That would explain all these Sans’s that keep hitting on him and—don’t think i don’t notice the rest of you making passes at my bro-! are you looking for a b a d  t i m e ? 

Bonus Lamia prompt

[A]’s lamia goes into a submissive heat. No matter what they do, however, [A] can’t seem to satisfy them. A quick google search reveals their lamia is looking to be bred with eggs, but—uh—[A] can’t produce eggs, and neither of them really want kids yet anyways, and—hey, you can buy safe to insert pseudo-eggs!—Don’t worry baby, I’m gonna give you just what you need~ 

- - - - -

A list of loose themes and thoughts. Poke through and see if anything catches your attention. Or maybe mix some together? (Conveniently numbered for a random number generator!) 

1. Bitties

2. Asleep on shoulder

3. Shopping trip

4. Bandaging after sparring 

5. Broken down car

6. Attractive salesman

7. Trapped in a box~ 

8. Good old fashioned temporary amnesia 

9. Is that a dog in your jacket? 

10. “If you touch him I will END you...!”

11. Crossover

12. Lamias

13. The meal was unrecognizable...You eat it anyways. 

14. Classic fairytale, but with a twist! 

15. A more obscure fairytale. (With all the ‘wtf??’s they tend to entail.)

16. “Please tell me you meant to do that...”

17. Ectoboobies

18. “God, you’re so hot… You look hot! SWEATY! Do you want a drink!?!?”

19. “F-FLIRTING? SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS!?”

20. Borrowed pajamas

21. Candle light

22. BEACH DAY

23. Someone not normally collared: collared~! 

24. “Sit down and shut up! ...I’m going to serenade you now.”

25. “What will it take to make you realize I’m no good for you?” 

26. Running out of water

27. Physically shielding from harm

28. Can’t stop staring

29. Broke something important

30. He only ever acted like this when he was covered in dust…

31. Well... people always say you should marry a doctor

32. “I think I’m falling for you” 

33. “Guess you fell for me~” 

34. A bad vacation

35. Missing the bus 

36. A WAY too fancy restaurant

37. Good morning kiss

38. That’s probably a serial killer chasing you tbh. 

39. Lost & alone… 

40. Annoying Dog is secretly a matchmaker

41. A goodbye note

42. Freezing cold

43. A slow dance after the lights go down

44. Exploring

45. Hey! You’re that actor/singer/etc I like-! Why are you grinding on me!?!? 

46. “I failed you…”

47. A non-traditional Heat symptom

48. Soul-bonding: the aftermath. 

49. 2 dudes sittin in a hot tub, 5 ft apart cause they’re very gay and sorta nervous and-gosh-it sure is hot in this hot tub… 

50. Flowey: “Okay, look. I don’t normally give advice but…”

[captainderyn]

5 Writer Questions

Thank you for the tag @elveny <3 I’ve been particularly bad about fandom participation lately with all that’s going on, but I want to get back into it~

I’ll leave the tag open on this one!

1. Do you have a favorite character to write? Who and why?

Obviously I love writing my own characters--that’s a given. I think out of my fandom characters Wulfwryn or Raenor are my favorites to write, something about the two of them either separate or alone just hits different. 

Original character wise, The Queen is probably my favorite, just because she’s so damn regal while still having a bit of wit about her. 

And canon character wise I am such a sucker for writing Alistair. Let me write my soft, humorous boy any day please. 

2. Do you have a favorite trope to write? Or one you want to write?

I love writing angsty tropes lol, more specifically highly emotionally charged moments that end up working out. There’s just something about writing angst that I just live for. 

I also love writing really soft romances. On the entire flipside. 

3. Share your favorite description you’ve written?

“Set the basket down if you’d like.” her queen’s voice broke through her skittering thoughts. Her voice was like a melody, a siren’s song to lay her duties and all the lessons of her teachers’ aside.  “The water feels divine.”

“I–” Sparrow’s breath hitched, her thoughts scattering entirely as her Queen brushed long strands of hair from her neck, working at the encircling clasp of her dress. The fabric fell, catching around her waist. Ancients around, grant her strength. “My queen?”

With careful fingers the breeze stirred across the water, lifting the gauzy veil just enough so that Sparrow saw the corner of a forbidden smile. The Queen turned to look at her, hair shifting over her shoulders in a shining curtain. “I’m not going to ruin my dress for a swim.”

Her queen had always been so bold, so unabashed. Sparrow knew that she should look away as her queen shimmied the fabric from her waist, letting it pool in shimmering pale blues and purples. The cuffs shaped like soft petals slid from her arms and wrists.

This description of the Queen is one of my favorites, as well as the scene setting that comes just before it tbqh. 

All around the forest hummed with life. Though night had fallen, turning the shadows to inky black and the sky a dark blue with the bright pinpricks of stars, the forest had not died with the setting sun.

Water whispered across stone, singing a sweet song. Above, branches hung with moss tangled together and draped low across the pond. Fireflies flickered over the water.

The water was beautiful, running crystalline and blue enough to see the depths beneath like it was under glass. Moonlight created a silver path like a stripe across the simmering surface.

No matter how beautiful the water was, Sparrow’s eyes couldn’t help but stray to her queen, who walked in front of her to the water’s edge. Her bare toes touched the water, sending ripples skirting across the surface. It dampened the hem of her gown, darkening the sheer fabric.

The Moon, cruel was She in her meddling, left little to the imagination as Her light drifted down to snake around her queen’s silhouette. Sparrow could feel heat creeping up her face, burning like stoked flame when her queen turned to look at her.

4. Share your favorite dialogue you’ve written?

“No, you won’t.” Her voice dripped with misery and truly, what did she believe that made her sound that way? She was shaking her head at him when he found himself unable to keep from looking back, her brows drawn tight together, expression bitter. “You won’t come back from her. I know you won’t, the grief will take you, easy as any sword.”

“Enough,” Emotion was starting to build in him, he could feel the pressure behind his eyes. “Please, you have to trust me.”

But she was merciless, unrelenting as the ocean waves on stone. “You’ve already almost lost her once! What keeps it from happening again? From truly happening? What will you do then? Hm? Look at me and tell me you’ll come back.”

“I came back!” he snapped. He hadn’t wanted to, but he did. He had ridden back down the banks of the Ford, crossed into the protection of Rivendell at Wulfwryn’s insistence.

“Fine,” Nárissë snapped in return, “What about when she grows old while you don’t?”

“Stop.” A warning note took up in his voice. He’d already thought about this, he’d already lived through enough contingencies in the shelter of his own mind.

“When she starts to wither away and you can do nothing but watch?”

“Nárissë enough.”

Nárissë refused to give, her voice almost pleading with him now to understand something. “When old age takes her mind first, erasing you, and then finally her body? When you’re left alone here?”

“Enough!” his shout rang loud enough to spook the horse next to him and he forced his voice to soften, though there was still a growling edge until finally it tripped and shattered on his last word. “I’ve heard enough.”

This scene from chapter 28 of Moments In Time...I’m very attached to this particular set of dialogue lol. 

5. Scene you haven’t written, but want to?

This fricken sex scene between Wulf and Raenor of all things xD It revolves entirely around how they first met and the initial spark felt between them and I’d really like to share it. If I could just stop getting so embarrassed while writing it lmao. 

[yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy]

Keep Your Eyes On Me Part 2

So this is part 2 of my submission to @waiting4inspiration ‘s 2k follower challenge. In case you missed part 1

Warnings- implied nudity, language, I think that’s it. That good good (smut/lemon) is in part 3 tho so heads up. 

Part 2

You got up and stretched before you took off your dragon armor and dragon wool outer layers and lounged around your home away from home and made yourself something to eat before you got into bed in just your dragon silk under layers, what essentially looked like a tank top and leggings and got into your own bed and read from your ‘journal’ all the “history” you’d be changing if things went according to plan as the fire in your shelter stayed ever burning, keeping things comfortable which lulled you into sleep too before long. 

You woke up only moments before Bjorn did and barely had your dragon wool outer layers on by the time he opened his eyes. 

“Am I in Valhalla?” He asked as he looked around, this..didn’t look like Valhalla. Although he wasn’t in nearly as much pain as his mind told him he should be in, so maybe…

“No,” you shook your head no as you continued getting dressed and put your armor on over your wool layers because you didn’t trust him to not harm you yet. The way any wounded animal bites. 

“What is that?” He questioned as he gestured to what you were wearing. 

“It’s my armor.” You answered as you fastined it and ran your hands over it. 

“What’s it made out of?” He asked as he eyed it’s texture. 

“Dragon scales.” you beamed proudly. 

“What?” He shook his head in confusion. 

“I’m a Valkyrie from Asgard remember? Well, more specifically Neveah. Dragons still fly free there, they’ve died out here a long time ago. At home we’ve also domesticated them. Dragons are like…big scaley horses as far as temperament goes. When dragons shed their scales so that they can grow new, bigger ones, we collect them and make armor out of them. When they do, they reveal the dragon’s down, the way a duck or goose has down, like a soft fuzzy hair under each scale. However for some breeds of dragon, we’ve bred them so that the downy hair grows more abundantly instead of the scales, it grows like sheep’s wool, mare dragons, their down is much finer than a stud dragon’s is, mares grow what’s called dragon silk, stud dragon’s down is much thicker and it’s a bit rougher, they grow dragon’s wool. It’s really hard to dye to make different colors, ten times longer than it takes anything else to dye but once it dyes, the color never fades, ever. It’s also super durable while being breathable and depending on how you weave it, it can take the sweat off of you while not letting you get wet like if you’re out in the rain and it’s a bit stretchy. But it’s so tough that only dragon’s teeth can cut it decently well, Thankfully dragons regrow their teeth every shed and then once they reach full size, they regrow a new set every ten years or so. Baby dragons’ teeth, we use those for needles, medium teeth, perfect for small knives and scissors, the larger teeth, swords.” You explained as you pointed to the different layers of clothes you were wearing to show the differences in fabrics as Bjorn reached out to feel the fabric before you gestured to your dragon toothed sword on your hip before you handed him your dragon tooth knife to look at. It looked like rainbow titanium. It was always important to mix the truth in with the lies so that the whole was more believable because the truth was, back at home in the future medical science brought back dragons, all the varieties in ancient lore but with a twist of being domesticated. And you were really from an island nation called Neveah. 

“You really are a Valkyrie.” He breathed in awe before he handed the blade back to you. 

“Well on this plane I am, back home I’m a Dragoner.” You smiled proudly as you put the knife back in its place, and that was true, you and your whole family were Dragoners. Some of the best in Neveah. “Are you hungry?” you asked thoughtfully. As you got another pillow and helped him sit up in bed a bit better and more comfortably.  

“Yeah,” he nodded. 

“Ok, let me make you the dagmal then.” You offered as you began to make some breakfast for you both. You made him griddle cakes with berries in the batter, drizzled with honey and some ham and sausages, scrambled eggs along with making him a fresh loaf of bread from your breadseed. 

Breadseed was something special that grew only in the poles in your time, it was discovered when some of the ice caps melted and looked like super large milo plants when it grew in the dead of winter, sunlight tended to burn the leaves of the plant so it only grew in the light of the moon and from the northern lights when the temperatures were consistently -50°. Because anything above zero, the plant wilted and turned to mush, but when picked when you harvested the seeds and very carefully and very slowly brought it up to room temperature while you dehydrated it, they were fine, they made a delightful tea when steeped in hot water and was world renowned for its superb and surprisingly sweet and fruity flavor and longevity benefits. A handful of breadseed seeds looked like bronzer pearls, the more pearlescent the seed, the sweeter it was and came in varieties and flavors that most would recognize as bread and cake flavors. How the breadseed itself worked was you took a kernel which had a waterproof husk and once that was peeled away right before consuming since the husk kept it fresh, you put it into water, it expanded exponentially and grew very hot, baking itself and became something that mimicked and perfectly resembled a new loaf of bread and had all the health benefits that bread had and then some including added vitimins and minerals that were easy for everyone to digest, the loaves were the size of a soccer ball with a pocket, the size of your fist, on the inside in the middle, where still more breadseeds lined it. A handful of breadseed could feed an army. Back home they were international currency, but here and now they were just plain food. 

You took the round loaf and split it, one half was two thirds of the loaf and the other was about a third of the size of the whole, you didn’t need to eat a lot, this poor man hasn’t had a good meal in a very long time, he would appreciate the larger half but the action helped you to get at the pocket in the middle and scooped the breadseeds out and added them to your breadseed pouch before you went back to Bjorn and served him his breakfast or simply, his day meal which is what the dagmal was to him- in bed. Using the little table you had attached to the bed to set everything on so he didn’t have to balance it all in his lap. 

“Here you go.” You offered before you got him a large cup of buttermilk. Vikings liked buttermilk to drink for their day meal. Or so you’ve read. 

“Why are you doing all of this for me? There were others there that deserve this more than I do.” He asked as he looked at all the food and hesitated in eating it. 

“Odin has a path for you, I’m here to help you find it, walk in it and follow it. Once you do, I’ll be gone as quickly as I came, because by then, you won’t need me or my guidance.“ You informed him. 

“What is the path?” He asked as he slowly started to eat. 

“I’m not allowed to tell you, because if I do, it won’t happen. But you’ll know it when it’s in front of you.” You gently urged before you gave him a reassuring squeeze of his shoulder with a gentle smile before you left back into the kitchen area of your tent as Bjorn thought over your words and brought your food over to the little table and one of the chairs and ate yourself, drinking your freshly squeezed orange juice and bacon and omelet with pancakes and sausage as you low key looked at him out of the corner of your eye and noticed how he suddenly seemed to try to eat everything all at once. 

“This is so good,” he praised between bulging mouthfuls. 

“Thank you.” You smiled proudly. 

“So what’s your name Valkyrie?” He asked curiously. 

“What would you like to call me?” You returned, knowing he’d probably like you better with a norse name rather than your own. 

“Astrid.” Bjorn decided since you were still, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life and that name suited you perfectly. 

“Astrid it is.” You smiled back.

After he ate, he fell back asleep and once he was out, you took away the dishes and put them in the sink before the automatic washer washed them for you before you pulled up his biometric readouts from him into the simulation model and were pleasantly surprised when he was healing at a much higher rate than estimated before you recalibrated your algorithms to get a better and more accurate prediction for when he would heal. He should be out for the next…2 hours or so. Plenty of time for you to get a bath because your deodorant was dying and you could use one since back on Neveah, you bathed twice a day. Once in the morning to be clean for the day and then again at night, usually a bath to relax and unwind before bed.  

You got undressed and went into the bathroom section of your tent where a large tub was already full of swirling hot water and you undressed and stepped into the water and blew out a breath of relief as you stepped into the hot water and sat down before a tray lifted from the side, showing you a bath bomb and a vile of bath oil. 

You happily took it and dropped the bathbomb in before you smelled the bath oil. Ooh, jasmine with hints of lilac and gardenia. Hell yeah, you poured it in before you took off your face mask that morphs your face to appear however you wanted it to look and took it off and put it on it’s holder before you took the headband off that made your hair take on the long blonde hair Vikings loved and revealed your blue razzberry blue hair in it’s ponytail and pulled your hair down before you took the universal translator out of your ears and the projected screen in front of your face so that to everyone looking on, your face moved with your ranslated words and set them down on the tray and blew out a breath of relief and flexed your face as you rubbed your eyes before you slipped under the water and relaxed for a moment before the inside of the bathtub lit up and alerted you Bjorn woke up early which had you coming up out of the water to hurriedly put on your disguise again before Bjorn hobbled into the room and you ducked back into the water to press the hatch at the bottom of the tub to release an emergency bathing suit which you quickly put on under the water before you emerged because you were running out of breath. 

“Bjorn?” You said as you wiped the water off your face and looked at him questioningly. “You should be in bed, do you need something?” You asked as you moved to be closer to him. 

“A…bath.” Bjorn offered as his mouth went dry because your bathing suit was strapless and it appeared that you were naked because the waters were milky white from the dissolved bath bomb. 

“Oh, uh, sure, yeah,” you nodded in agreement and stood up and noticed the small pout he made when it was revealed that you were not naked and stepped out of the water to help him out of all of his clothes except for his underwear before you helped him into the water before you handed him a bar of soap, a washcloth and a comb. 

“You could join me.” Bjorn suggested sheepishly. 

“Only if you swear not to touch me.” You returned a little warily. 

“On my honor.” He immediately agreed before you joined him but sat across from him in the large tub and watched as he lathered the soap and began to clean himself up. 

“So how did you become a Valkyrie?” He asked. 

“I was recruited and trained like any soldier.” You answered simply. 

“So do you have a family back on Asgard?” He questioned. 

“I do. I have my parents and a sister and two brothers.” You revealed. 

“Is your sister a Valkyrie too?” He prodded, trying to get to know you. 

“No, she cares for the bloodlines of the family dragons as well as helping them lay successful clutches of eggs. My brothers handle the training of the dragons so they can take riders when they’re juveniles while my grandparents mainly care for all the grandchildren of the family and the baby dragons. My mother makes jewelry out of the shed scales of the babies as they grow while my father builds armor as do my brothers when they’re not training. That armor that I wear, my father built it just for me and it has never failed me.” You revealed with a fond smile. 

“Do you have a husband and children of your own?” Bjorn asked. 

“No, as a Valkyrie, I’m not allowed to have a husband or birth any children unless I retire first and I’m nowhere near retirement age.” You answered. 

“Do you want them?” He posed. 

“I’m sure I will eventually. But not at the moment.” You shook your head no. 

“What about you? Do you have a family back home that you’re anxious to return to?” You asked curiously as you tilted your head to the side. 

“I have a sister and her family are back in Kattegat. I haven’t seen her in a year, everyone else is dead.” He answered. “I was hoping to gain a fortune on this raid but so far there hasn’t been much to gain.” Bjorn explained. 

“The places you raid are learning and adapting to you and your tactics and word spreads faster than wildfire.” You surmised as Bjorn found himself nodding in agreement to that. “It means in order to get what you want, you may have to change your tactics.” You hinted which caused you to grin. “By the way, moving forward. There are rules for keeping my company. First, I am your guide to your path so that means when I give you advice, it would be best if you followed it because my purpose in giving it to begin with, is keeping you alive and keeping you safe but if you grow reckless, and abuse my help and support, I’ll call in a replacement and she will not be nearly as nice or as pretty as I am or worse yet, I’ll go back in time and leave you to die the way I found you. I’m as good as it gets. Second. I am not your slave, or thrall as you would call it or anything like that. You don’t boss me around. Third, this is as close as we get. I don’t mind being your friend on your journey, but anything more than that, especially anything romantic is out of the question and if you even hint at anything like that, I’m out and I’ll be replaced. Fourth, anyone who touches me without my consent, they loose their hands, including you. You can walk on your path with just one hand. Understood?” You proposed as you leveled him with a look. 

“Understood.” Bjorn nodded with a gulp. 

“Let’s shake on it.” You suggested before you shook hands with him as your materializer made him new clothes and armour. 

After that the conversation flowed much easier and you both got a better sense of who the other person was in terms of character until the water grew cold and you decided to get out. 

“Here, new clothes for you.” You said as you handed him the freshly made clothes made out a blend of dragon silk and dragon wool with dragon silk boxers which he had to get changed into himself. 

“This is really nice.” Bjorn said as he felt the fabric, nothing he had ever put on his skin had ever felt this good before. 

“Now, when you’re all healed up, I have new armor for you. It’s not dragon scale like mine, because giving you dragon scale is forbidden by The Code, but it’s the toughest thing in this world. Way down south of here, in a place called Africa, is a large lizard that they call the crocodile, it’s large enough that it can kill and eat people. This is it’s hide. It’ll stop most weapons. It’s the best I can give you.” You offered as you showed him his suit of armor. 

Getting him travel ready only took you four days rather than the seven you thought it would at first because he took the serums you injected into him better than anticipated and continued to make improvements and he surprised you every day by how well he was able to progress. This mission may take less time than you anticipated. 

Once he was ready, you set up a neural link between both of you, that way you could keep communicating without talking which would come in handy if you were in a form other than human and  transformed back into a horse, your tent changing in appearance to that of a normal tent of the time period from the outside and you were able to make it so that Bjorn could easily set it up and take it down before he put it on your saddle and rode you back to the camp where some of the survivors were and still nursing their own wounds and regrouping. 

“What happened to you?” They asked Bjorn. 

“I got caught in this horse’s reins and it dragged me north, I was able to tame it a little since she’s still green broke and half wild but obviously I was able to bring her back.” Bjorn answered since that was the answer both of you had agreed upon would be the most believable as he got off of you and lead you towards the rest of camp. 

“What are you wearing?” They asked as they eyed what he was wearing now. 

“Oh, this is what the dead fucker that was tied to her saddle was wearing, once I got him off of her and got her settled down, I saw that it was still good, I tried it on and it fit and it was better than what I was wearing.” Bjorn shrugged. “I think he was deserting the fight because she was packed with a tent and a bedroll and food.” He explained as he gestured to everything on your saddle. 

“Serves him right, filthy coward.” his surviving friends sneered but beamed proudly at Bjorn as they eyed you appreciatively as the shield maidens who had survived came over to you curiously as you greeted them sweetly and endeared yourself to them. 

Getting Bjorn and the others back home to Kettegat was more arduous than you expected but you and Bjorn grew closer as friends along the way, only appearing in your human form when you were alone with him, otherwise you were a horse and because of your senses and abilities you were always the first to alert the group of wolves and bears and even other people before you joined back up with another raiding party and traveled back home to Kettegat.

[daydream-hobii]

Shelter of Hope | Chapter 19

Genre: Poly!AU; Hybrid!AU; Fluff; Angst

Pairing: Hybrid BTS x Female!Reader; Human!Reader, Human!Namjoon, White Persian Cat!Seokjin, Siamese Cat!Yoongi, Border Collie!Hoseok, Calico Cat!Jimin, Australian Shepherd!Taehyung, Siberian Husky!Jungkook

Summary: Y/N and her husband Namjoon are the proud owners of a hybrid shelter, protecting and saving as many hybrids as they can. They have a couple of their own, a cat and dog hybrid, whom they love with all their hearts. In the shelter, they gain some hybrids with trauma filled pasts, and one particular one who no one seems to want. What will happen when their little family of four turns to eight?

Warning: Mentions of Abuse, Sexual Assault, Depression, Anxiety; Suggestions of Smut; Read with caution <3 

Word Count: 1,471

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10 // Chapter 11 // Chapter 12 // Chapter 13 // Chapter 13.5: BONUS // Chapter 14 // Chapter 15 // Chapter 16 // Chapter 17 // Chapter 18 // Chapter 20 // Chapter 21 // Chapter 22 // Chapter 23 // Chapter 24 // Chapter 25 [FINAL] //

Author’s Note: Welcome to Chapter 19! Please let me know what you think of this chapter, I love getting feedback! I hope you enjoyed it!!! ^_^ 

            The next morning, I woke up in the same position as I fell asleep. Namjoon was still sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake him up. His bandage had a bit of blood peeking through, and I couldn’t help but frown.

            I carefully stood up, walking out and heading to the master bedroom. I peeked in to see all the hybrids snuggled together, more specifically it was Jungkook and Jin, Taehyung and Jimin, and Hoseok and Yoongi, but they were all holding each other in some way or another.

            It warmed my heart to see them all getting along, and as I carefully shut the door, I began to think about Namjoon and my relationship with the boys. Sure, Yoongi and Taehyung have been entwined in our relationship, as far as dates and kissing and even sex go. Hoseok is apart of it, but there has been no sex between Namjoon and me with him, just the other hybrids… but still with us?

            It was all so confusing, but… do we bring three more people into this relationship? Jimin and Jungkook were already dating, and Jungkook expressed some interest… and the feelings I feel for them was the same as I felt for the other boys… but would it be too complicated?

            I bite my lip as I went downstairs, entering the kitchen to start breakfast. My own bandage was old and had few blood spots from the burns and cuts. I still didn’t put on a shirt, knowing the bandage covered enough, but I wore some shorts. My legs had a stray band aid here and there, but nothing too serious.

            I began to cook a buffet, feeding eight people took a lot. I realized that today I should go to the Shelter to grab three adoption papers for Jin, Jungkook, and Jimin, and to check up on everything. I know one of the boys will want to come, they’ll never leave my side again after what happened. 

            The doorbell rang, and I turned towards the front, furrowing my brow. As I walked through the living room to the front door, I couldn’t help but think about what it could be. I don’t think Namjoon or I ordered anything, and I’m sure the boys didn’t either.

            I opened the door, my eyes widening as I gulped. It was Fang, the leader of the fighting ring, standing alone, on my front door step. I picked up the baseball bat that was sat behind the door, getting protective.

            “Get off my porch,” I warned, glaring.

            “Ah, but we’ve had such good times together,” He said, smirking.

            “It’s eight against one, where’s your goons?” I asked, not putting down my weapon.

            “You mean it’s five against one,” He said, smirking. “Two of your boys are hurt, and you can’t hurt a fly.”

            “Fucking watch me,” I growled.

            “My goons were arrested,” He said, looking around behind me at my house. “I’ve been thinking about making a business investment.”

            “Business investment? Who would do business with you, you’re a criminal?” I asked, glaring hard. He took a step closer to me, and I swung my bat back in warning, making him grin and my anger grow.

            “Your little husband doesn’t tell you everything, huh?” He asked, smirking. “Your shelter is going bankrupt.”

            “Liar,” I replied, squinting my eyes.

            “Oh, it’s the truth. The bank is trying to take the property. You’re broke. All those pretty hybrids need a place, and I was thinking about opening my own,” He said, smirking. A low growl erupted behind me, and I turned my head to see Taehyung and Jungkook standing there, glaring. 

            “Get out,” Jungkook growled. He stood a little further behind Taehyung, who had his arms crossed, muscles protruding. Taehyung wasn’t the strongest of the boys, but he was a hell of a fighter. 

            “Alright, I’ll leave,” Fang said, smirking at me. He turned, and I put the bat down, wide eyed. 

            “Wait,” I said, making the two boys growl deeper. “Is that true…?”

            “That you’re broke?” He asked, smirking. “Oh, yeah. Ask your husband if you don’t believe me. Your shelter is going to be mine.”

            “They’ll never sell it to a criminal,” I retorted, squinting my eyes.

            “Tell the bank that. We sign the contract in a couple days,” He replied, smirking. “See you later.”

            He walked away, leaving me anxious and wide eyed. I turned to look at Taehyung and Jungkook, who had different expressions. Jungkook was glaring after Fang, while Taehyung had his ears down, shuffling his feet and not looking me in the eye.

            “You knew?” I asked, staring at Taehyung with hurt eyes.

            “Namjoon thought he could handle it,” He whined.

            I slammed the door, anger and hurt running through my veins. I walked up the stairs, both the boys following and wide eyed. Jungkook would occasionally whimper, Taehyung whining along with him. I went into the Master bedroom, where the only one sleeping was Jimin.

            “We’re broke?” I questioned, Hoseok and Yoongi going wide eyed, ears flattening.

            “What are you talking about?” Jin asked, rubbing his injured shoulder gently.

            “The shelter is foreclosing?” I asked, Hoseok looking down as Yoongi’s tail twitched nervously.

            “Who told you?” Yoongi asked, glaring at Taehyung.

            “You both knew?” I shouted, waking Jimin up. He sat up, rubbing his eyes gently.

            “Fang came to our door, he’s buying it,” Jungkook said, furrowing his brow.

            “What?” Hoseok asked, looking up fast. “He can’t do that, he’s a criminal.”

            “The bank’s desperate, I guess,” Taehyung mumbled.

            “Who didn’t know about this?” I asked, hurt filling my body. Yoongi whined a bit, sensing my mood change.

            “I didn’t,” Jungkook said, confused. “Jimin either. Obviously Jin had no clue.”

            “Thank you for speaking for me,” Jin said, glaring before looking at me. “I’m sorry, Y/N, I had no clue.”

            “I can’t believe this,” I whispered, walking out. Taehyung tried to follow, but I walked in where Namjoon and I slept, shutting the door behind me. Namjoon was sitting in bed, rubbing the back of his neck.

            “Morning, Yeobo,” He mumbled, his husky voice indicating that he just woke up.

            “Fang was at the door this morning,” I said, crossing my arms, wincing at the soreness.

            “What?” Namjoon asked, fully waking up.

            “Yeah. He wanted to let me know that we’re broke and the Shelter is being sold,” I growled, glaring. “and that he’s buying it.”

            “What?” Namjoon repeated, furrowing his brow, before staring into my hurt eyes. “Y/N, I’m so sorry. Please.”

            “No, Namjoon,” I said, holding up my hand. “We bought that Shelter together, it’s in my name too, you don’t think I didn’t need to know about this?”

            “I didn’t want to worry you,” He mumbled, frowning.

            “Do you know how hurt I am?” I yelled, staring him down. “You didn’t tell me the one thing that is taking our home away! We’ve had that Shelter since we got married!”

            “I know,” He whispered, not looking into my eyes.

            “You didn’t tell me,” I said, my voice cracking. He quickly looked up, wide eyed. “We could’ve had more events, more donators. We could’ve gone to conventions with some of the hybrids.”

            “That’s a genius idea,” He said, still staring at me.

            “Yeah, well now, it’s too late, and the leader of the hybrid fight ring is buying it out, congrats,” I said, about to walk away, but Namjoon grabbed my hand. I looked at him, the pain in his eyes, not just from his wound.

            “Yeobo, I’m sorry,” He whispered.

            “I need to calm down before I can talk to any of you,” I said, tears escaping my eyes. “Please, just let me calm down,” I warned, leaving and shutting the door. I passed Taehyung and Yoongi, who were wide eyed and staring. I went to the Master, seeing the rest of the boys standing around.

            “Out,” I said, pointing to the door. Hoseok whined, walking out with Jungkook, who was frowning. Jimin stood by the door, while I stopped Jin.

            “Jinnie, there’s food on the stove and everything, will you finish it?” I asked. He gave a small smile, nodding and kissing my forehead before leaving. I ignored Jimin, walking over to the bed and crawling into it, burying myself in the covers and letting out a sob. I heard the door shut and someone shuffle to me.

            “Chim, go away,” I choked out, my voice muffled from the comforter. 

            “I’m not leaving you alone,” He retorted, crawling into the bed behind me, his arm and tail wrapped around my waist, cuddling into my back. He buried his face into my neck, licking it to try to comfort me.

            “I’m so hurt,” I choked out, shutting my eyes.

            “I know, you don’t need to tell me,” He whispered. “I’m sorry this happened.”

            “Yeah, me too.”

[centralparkpawsblog]

American Journey Dog Food Review

https://www.centralparkpaws.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/American-Journey-grain-free-salmon-sweet-potato-dry-dog-food-review.jpg I like to take Maggie for special weekend trips to our local pet store.

She gets to make new furry friends and we usually walk out with a toy she picks out for herself, but I also get something from the trip.

While we’re walking around the store, I tend to see what’s being stocked at the front and which products dog owners are taking to the register.

What’s also important to note is which dog products are being sold online, and recently I’ve seen American Journey dog food becoming more popular.

I’ve bought that brand for Maggie once, so I know a thing or two about the business and the food.

Here’s everything I’ve learned about American Journey and why it could be your dog’s next favorite brand of food.

About the Brand

Click any image for more info!

Once you’ve walked down the dog food aisle a couple times, you get to know the biggest brands.

Still, the world of online shopping has changed how consumers view and buy the products they love.

American Journey is more of a new-age dog food, since it’s made exclusively by Chewy.

You may know Chewy from their website, which sells pet products of all kinds for a discount.

Chewy seems to really care about what they sell and their customer’s satisfaction, so when I discovered that they make American Journey, it made me like the food even more.

It’s sold exclusively online through their website, since Chewy doesn’t have any brick and mortar locations.

Ingredients

Seven of the American Journey dog food blends are grain free, which means you have seven formulas to choose from.

While the specific ingredients differ with each bag of food, the foundational ingredients stay the same.

American Journey’s grain-free formulas don’t use ingredients like:

Corn, wheat, and soy

Meat by-products

Fillers

The six grain-based formulas also avoid the same ingredients, although they do include rice.

You’ll also find whole fruits and vegetables used in both blends, plus amino acids and a high protein content to round out your dog’s meals. 

An important thing to note is that part of the protein will come from chickpeas[1], and while it’s an excellent source to get protein from, some dogs may be more sensitive to it than others. 

Features

There are a few features of this brand that make it stand out from others on the market.

The first is that it’s sold online by one of the top dog supply websites.

When you buy from Chewy, part of the profits are donated to shelters and charities[2], so you’re helping more than just your dog with your purchase.

It’s also at a lower price than most other brands.

The standard 25 pound bag averages about $40 and comes with free shipping, which made a huge difference to me when I switched Maggie over to American Journey from a brand that cost $60 per bag.

What I Liked

Speaking of treats, American Journey has all sorts of treats available as well!

I really like that you can order American Journey online, but more specifically, through Chewy.

I can add Maggie’s food to my cart and still get the major discounts while adding in other things she needs like treats and supplies.

It’s also a major budget relief to pay less for food that’s still of good quality.

Other foods around that same price contain fillers and ingredients I can’t recognize. Dogs shouldn’t have to eat bad food just because their owners have a limited budget.

Another thing that’s great is that there are so many grain-free formulas to choose from.

Maggie tried out three different kinds before we found one she loved. I could switch her autoship order to something new without worrying about her stomach being upset from changing flavors or brands. 

What I Didn’t Like

Even with so many formulas to choose from, the typical calorie count in American Journey dog food is higher than the protein content.

It’s not a great option for dogs needing to cut down on their caloric intake, which is unfortunate.

I’m also not a fan of being able to check around for price changes.

Chewy offers some great discounts and shipping rates, but I always wondered if the price would be different elsewhere. It made me uncomfortable not to be able to check.

Maggie also got bored of this food very quickly.

Even when we found the third formula that she got the most excited for, she would hesitate to eat after a month on the food.

That may be just a Maggie thing, but I related it back to the way the food tasted.

Ratings

Quality: 8/10

There’s a good variety of recipes, all made with high-quality ingredients. But your dog may be out of luck if they can’t handle chickpeas.

Price: 9/10

American Journey may be more expensive than cheap dog foods but it’s cheaper than other quality dog foods.

Value: 9/10

American Journey being inexpensive while providing high-quality ingredients combines with Chewy’s nifty features to provide a high value for your dollar.

Taste: 7/10

It took three flavors to find one Maggie liked. Then, she became bored of it after a month. That’s better than outright rejection, though!

Recommendation

American Journey is a food that’s definitely a safe option for your dog to try.

There are a ton of formulas for them to choose from that all contain quality ingredients.

Plus, you can’t beat the free shipping and autoship feature that Chewy offers.

Check Prices

Read Reviews

Alternatives

If you’re not entirely sold on the idea of buying American Journey, there are a few other alternatives you can look into:

Merrick

Merrick offers many grain-free formulas to rival American Journey.

There’s a great salmon and sweet potato bag that I bought for Maggie when she was a puppy, and she absolutely loved it.

It contains whole foods like peas, apples, and blueberries, as well as salmon and sweet potatoes[3].

Instinct

You may not have heard of Instinct before, but you’ll want to try it after reading more about their brand.

They have a grain-free duck formula that I’d love to let Maggie try sometime.

The protein comes from whole duck[4], instead of a source like chickpeas

Plus, there’s still fatty acids and immune strengthening antioxidants to improve your dog’s health.

Blue Buffalo

Blue Buffalo may be the brand for you if you want the flexibility of buying it in a store or online.

They’re one of the top selling dog food brands in the world, thanks to their limited ingredient diet[5].

It was made with the help of animal nutritionists, so it contains everything a dog could nutritionally need at any given life stage.

Interested in learning more? We have an in-depth comparison between Merrick and Blue Buffalo!

Conclusion

American Journey was great for Maggie while it lasted.

Although she never totally fell in love with the way it tasted, it never upset her stomach while we tried the different formulas.

It’s also super easy to buy online for a great price, so check it out if you and your dog haven’t given it a shot already. 

Resources

https://www.timesonline.com/entertainmentlife/20190809/are-grain-free-diets-problematic-for-pets

https://www.chewy.com/app/content/philanthropy

https://www.merrickpetcare.com/grain-free-real-salmon-sweet-potato-recipe/

https://www.instinctpetfood.com/dogs/limited-ingredient-diet/instinct-limited-ingredient-diet-grain-free-recipe-real-duck

https://bluebuffalo.com/for-dogs/product-lines/basics-dog-food/

The post American Journey Dog Food Review appeared first on Central Park Paws.

from https://www.centralparkpaws.net/dog-food/american-journey-dog-food-review/

[theawkwardterrier]

2018 fic roundup

Buffyverse

well tell her that I miss our little talks So Hurry Up and Lose Me, Hurry Up and Find Me (Again) Here We Are, Trapped (But Is It a Trap If I'm With You?) To All Our Histories Which Haven't Yet Happened

MCU

But A Walking Shadow Out of the Frying Pan Hand in Hand, Side by Side to walk to where you are sleeping To The Neighborhood Oh, But Aren't You Already My Darling? By Those Who Show Up Stitch Together In Spirit of the Season Childhood Friends

Veronica Mars

not just about being new (it’s about a change)

1. Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?:

Still not predicting, but probably around the predictable amount? I've gotten a little longer, I think, but I'm writing fewer stories overall, and I've really fallen into a few specific fandom categories - haven't added a new one in a while.

2. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?:

Dick/OC. Dick/anyone was a surprise. I'm generally frustrated and uninterested in Dick, so taking him on as a main character - when typically he's been a side role in my fic at best - is unexpected. I was just really drawn to the prompt.

3. What’s your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?

I'm really proud of To The Neighborhood. I like the POV, I think the character flowed well, it has a particular tone throughout, and everything is built using small details without info dumps. And I'm always a big fan of domesticity too - sweet, settled life is always a joy for me to write!

4. Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

It's weird to say at this point, but I think I've been playing around with AUs a little too much. Here We Are, Trapped (But Is It a Trap If I'm With You?) and Hand in Hand, Side by Side are really prime examples of this: they aren't just timeline changes or ways of placing the characters in similar roles in non supernatural settings, they are way, way big and entire AUs. I really like them conceptually - ya girl loves a good (or not good!) romcom - but they are really quite out of the ordinary. I guess I learned that I kinda don't care - I wrote it because I liked it, and I had fun with it!

5. Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

Nah. I finished my Woman Borne sequel, which was the goal I had set at the beginning of last year, and I'm probably just going to resign my work on my too ambitious Chase/Cameron fic, so I'm good.

6. From my past year of writing, what was…

Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe:

But A Walking Shadow. I'm not afraid to say how sad I am about this. I'm really, intensely proud of this story: the writing is good, the characters are good, it's lengthy (for me), it's chapter fic, it's part of a universe I've already worked on, there's action instead of just Emotional Talking - it felt like I did everything right, and it still didn't make a difference.

Most Fun:

Hand in Hand, Side by Side probably - I like Steve/Peggy and a Virtue/Moir AU for them was a blast to write. But I actually had a lot of fun with a bunch of them!

Most Disappointing:

By Those Who Show Up is a little too liberal wonky - too much political talk, not quite enough emotional buildup. To All Our Histories Which Haven't Yet Happened is also a little exhausting and repetitive in concept and would have probably been better if there were more substance between the little stories, but I really like the title, so that helps it out.

Most Sexy:

Steve and Peggy end up in a bed and kiss there in Oh, But Aren't You Already My Darling? so ha ha ha, that is extremely sexy!

Hardest to Write:

They kinda ended up in either the "it took four days from beginning to final edit" category, or the "I'm afraid I might just be writing this for the next several years" one this time around. I took a lot of care with But A Walking Shadow, and I stopped writing Childhood Friends for a while to work on other stuff and there was a point where I couldn't make In Spirit of the Season not incredibly depressing and a piece of Peggy character assassination, but most of my Buffy fics were like this (well tell her that I miss our little talks was the exception - that's why it's listed as posted like three weeks before the rest of them).

Most Unintentionally Telling:

As I was writing In Spirit of the Season, I literally said aloud, "I think I might have something weird going on internally with motherhood."

Choice Lines:

From But A Walking Shadow:

The force of her fingers, the directness of her gaze: for a moment he fears that she is about to kiss his mouth with the desperate confidence he’d felt before he’d boarded Schmidt’s plane. But instead, she leans up and presses her lips beneath his ear. He shivers; he always does, there, and she knows that.

He just can’t think of the noise and the flames, the collapse, when his mind and heart and guts weigh so human inside him.

The anger is worn and so tired inside of him.

"I don’t want to kill you,” says the man, pushing the words out. The soldier's arm, built to last, built to kill, shakes at the thought that he will die gasping. “And I don’t want to die. And I can’t bring you to meet my family like this.” His frame trembles. His eyes are magnified, wide as the stars.

There is such future and fragility in yet.

He remembers the way she fit in two hands the first time he held her, how she sometimes trips downstairs and curls up sleepily in his lap when he comes back from a run early in the morning. He loves her so much. Finally, he hugs her. “Have a good day, sweetheart,” he says, and lets her go.

From to walk to where you are sleeping:

“Enough is enough,” she tells herself most mornings, when she wakes up gritty-eyed and already teary from dreaming. “Enough is enough,” when she wants to tell Steve about her day, when she spots hair like his from the corner of her eye, when she has another lonely cup of tea at her table, when she wants just a bit of his optimism to drive her onward. “It was two years out of more than twenty, it is time to be done with mourning, enough is enough.” And then one night she opens her eyes into the darkness of her bedroom and tells herself, “Enough.”

He is here, he is here: what fragile and disturbing joy.

She watched so many good people die - not just Steve, not just her brother, but the boys who came from her home village, and the sweet air force pilot she’d kissed on the New Year of 1940, and the lady who’d sold ice cream through the Blitz and been suffocated by an improperly constructed Anderson shelter - and perhaps she doesn’t have to turn her grief out of doors and lock herself up.

From To The Neighborhood:

For a moment, she regrets not having one of those emergency call buttons that her daughter Joan (Dr. Oglethorpe hasn’t been allowed to call her Joanie in years) recommends when she makes her monthly call from Columbus, or at least a cellular phone.

From Oh, But Aren't You Already My Darling?:

Steve rests his hands on her wrists, so gentle, and she wants to cry. “Peg,” he says quietly, “can you maybe track me down a pair of pants? I know my legs aren’t really working yet, but I’ve had enough of showing off in a hospital gown for one lifetime.”

From By Those Who Show Up:

“Hell yeah,” says Bucky. “I was over there ten years and only lost an arm. Six months of doing this with you and I’ve basically lost my life.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m thinning up top, Steve, I swear to God.”

From well tell her that I miss our little talks:

(Note to self: start organizing things on the kitchen calendar. Note to self: get a kitchen calendar.)

There's basically cartoony whistling sound, like her optimism is Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff.

She hugged a pillow against her chest. She’d sign him up for a couple of community college mailing lists; maybe sitting in the back of some dense philosophy class would remind him why college wasn’t for everyone, or at least distract him. Her luck: he’d get all nerdy enthusi-Angel and just double down on the college fun talk. She really missed him. “Anyway,” she recalled herself. “I’m thinking maybe going all in on the spick and span could have something to do with you turning the dial up to Angel on the Broodometer.”

"....You’re allowed to think that you’re worth more than him, even if he was the one with the pulse.”

From So Hurry Up and Lose Me, Hurry Up and Find Me (Again):

Also, Angel has to be worried about being ‘busted, and not just in the Dust way.

How glad she is for him, knowing what he’s been through, knowing for herself how frightening it is to dangle unsupported and exhaust yourself hoping for a loving hand.

When Willow is like this, firm steps and a commanding voice, closed eyes as she puts a hand on the last sorcerer's shoulder, it’s hard for Buffy to hold in her mind Willow shy and sweet at sixteen. But then Will nods to Buffy, and without a thought, Buffy fells the robed woman. They’ve both changed. Neither of them will ever be sixteen again.

From Here We Are, Trapped (But Is It a Trap If I'm With You?):

“No. I’m counting on you to do the right thing for everyone, even if it might happen to include you.” 

From To All Our Histories Which Haven't Yet Happened:

“He was younger than I am now, and older than you would want to be.” 

From Childhood Friends:

Peggy, who had spent the afternoon she received the letter holding the hand of a boy - and he had been a boy - as he screamed and screamed toward death, had delayed replying, as she had not been able to summon a response to such grievances for nearly a week.

That she had spent her childhood at this very house with her dresses in a hopeless muddle and her knees insistently grass-stained, and that Steve had recently seen her in both a wrinkled nurse’s uniform after a night shift and indifferent mourning crepe below a tear-stained face, made her only more determined to put her best foot forward in this encounter.

...and Peggy concentrated on the feeling of his hand in hers, on the heat of him through his jacket, and felt despair and grave hope.

But her husband, who remembered a similar expression on his own mother’s face when he had professed his intention to marry Amanda, upon hearing whose surname even Charles II would have replied “Whom?” pulled her toward himself once more and said only, “Let them dance.”

[kkruml]

I don’t even know your name Chapter 10

Happy Sunday folks :)

This was either going to be a regular-length chapter or merged with 11 for a super-sized chapter... It’s separate because reasons, so please enjoy this as it’s own installment (chapter 11 is not far behind).

@smoakingwaffles as always for your beta magic.

@whiskynottea for being such a lovely voice as I’ve bounced this story off of you (mostly without your permission lol)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 2.5 | Chapter  3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

AO3

Previously

“I...” Jenny started, her voice low and unusually soft, “I-I’m sorry, brother. Truly. Didna mean to take yer happiness from ye.”

He could count the number of times he heard those words from his sister’s lips- she did not make amends easily and rarely admitted defeat.  His shoulders sagged as he nodded his head and opened his arms enough for Jenny to step into them.

His thoughts were scattered but slowly came into focus as he conjured up her face in his mind- he needed to find Claire.

At least this time, he knew where to look.

Jamie

He had rushed back to his flat but now found himself taking more time than necessary- shuffling from room to room before settling on a shower. He let the water fall on his neck, feeling each muscle slowly relax. His head hung forward, a trail of water cascading down his curls against his forehead. His eyes were unfocused, seeing the last images of her before they fell asleep.

Her hand was on his cheek, one finger lingered at the base of his neck feeling his pulse. Her eyes were a deep amber and intent, looking straight into his soul. His hand rested on her hip, finding bare skin, his fingers traced circles as he watched her lashes flutter at his touch. He had pulled her close; his hand traveled the curve down her back and found solace there- noses gently grazing as her lips met his softly. His life had come full circle in that moment- every hope he had ever had was answered by her touch.

He needed to see her.

The steam circled him as it swallowed him whole.

Checking his phone as he grabbed his keys, he took one last deep breath before closing the door behind him.

The hospital was close enough to walk, and he was thankful for it as he needed fresh air and just a few more moments to clear his head and gather his thoughts- trying for the right words that Claire could understand to be true.

All these months, she was so close. He had scoured half the city for her and she was just a mere four blocks away.  Joe has specifically said the Western General Hospital. He just hoped she was on duty.

Please be there.

He rounded the final corner and the imposing building came into view. It was an impressive light grey building with freshly planted trees along a walkway boarded by tulips. Any other day he would have lingered and taken in the speckling of color against the dark concrete - but not today. He made his way to Reception and as his eyes scanned the room his eyes caught a familiar face. Joe.

Jamie had taken no more than two steps in his direction as he saw Joe pick up his pace towards him. Jamie’s smile fell as he took in Joe’s expression. Eyes open and intent, shoulders tense, and mouth set in a firm line.

“Joe, it’s so good to se-“

“You’ve got some nerve coming here.” His voice cut Jamie’s remaining hope as he stopped in his tracks.

“I think ye-“

“Don’t Jamie, just DON’T. I never should’ve told LJ about Lallybroch. I just- I thought you were different. But you’re not. You’re just like him,” he finished, with an edge to his voice that lingered like venom.

“Joe, I know how this looks- truly. But if ye jus-“

“NO. You listen. She’s been through a lot- she’s played this role before. Some dashing fella comes along, sweeps her off her feet. Makes promises he can’t keep and she finds him with his arms around another girl.”

Joe paused, watching him closely. Jamie’s eyes widened, taking in his words, feeling his heart tighten, all but flinching in pain.

Christ, someone hurt her.

His Claire.

No.

She was not his Claire.

He stayed quiet, eyes locked on the floor, head slowly nodding- listening.  

“You’ll not put her through that- she can’t take it again. That almost broke her.” He was breathing hard, chest heaving as he postured against Jamie’s towering form.

Jamie stayed quiet. His thoughts skipped from one thought to the next.

She’s been hurt.

Someone hurt her.

She thought I was different.

That bastard had his chance, and he squandered it.

I might have ruined it before it could even start.

I may be no different after all.

A final deep breath and he steeled himself as he lifted his head to meet Joe’s stare. “I’m sorry Joe, truly. I dinna want to hurt Claire. I’ll be leavin’ now.”

And with that, he nodded his head, eyes locked on Joe and without a word he turned and walked away.

CLAIRE

Two more hours. Then I can go home. Then I can crawl into bed and forget this weekend ever happened.

I closed my eyes, allowing my head to drop forward as I slowly rolled my head to one side, massaging my neck with my hand- in a flash I saw red hair against my neck, curls lightly tickling my skin as his fingers traced the line from my jaw to collarbone-

Get it together, Beauchamp.

“Lady Jane.”

I jumped as I heard Joe’s voice coming towards me, his eyes wide.

“Joe? What’s wrong?”

He looked me over for a moment before he exhaled, shook his head and spoke. “Well you don’t have to worry about seeing him again.”

“Wait, what? What do you...” My eyes focused on his, seeing his pupils dilated, cheeks flushed, and I caught the distinct hitch in his breath as he tried to steady it. “... He’s here?”

“He had the nerve to come here, thinking he could talk his way into seeing you. Spin his words and twist what you heard. Well I am not gonna sit here and let another man talk his way out of the sack of shit he deserves to be under.”  

My mind raced as I tried to find focus.

He’s here?

No.

He’s gone.

Memories of slick dark hair and a thin-lipped smile crept into my thoughts- that self-assured voice weaving lie after beautiful lie. No.

I can’t go through that again.

Jamie

He let the car sit in idle for a while before he turned the key to kill the ignition. The drum of the rain on the roof was almost enough to drown out his thoughts. Almost.

He saw a familiar figure in the window looking out, and with a heavy sigh he grabbed his keys, ready to go inside. Jenny would be worried.

“Back sae soon?” She said, her voice carefully avoiding the name in his mind. And he was grateful for it.

“Aye. Tis done,” was all he could muster in response. His arms hung at his side as he stared down at the wooden floorboards.

She caught the slight twitch of his shoulders and the small gasp of breath as his head fell, arms pulled tight against himself. Before he could speak again her arms were around him, and they stood together, her hands keeping him whole.

It felt like an endless day with no night.

His fingers trailed down the pattern on the glass, the amber liquid creating ripples as he took another sip, seeing flickers from the fire radiate in his glass. Jenny eyed him, seeing his arms loosen as he shook his head and emptied the glass.

“Another?” she asked, but had already moved to lift the bottle.

“Aye.” His eyes did not leave his glass. The moment the bottle left his vision he took another long drag.

“Brother… James,” she said as his eyes lifted to meet hers. She rarely called him that, save special occasions and when she spoke words close to her heart.

“It’s over, Jenny.” Another long swig and then silence.

“Did ye see her, then?”

“Och, no. Her friend. He said enough.” Eyes lingered on the fire, unblinking.

“She kens the truth then, aye?” Her eyes searched his face.

“It doesna matter Jenny.” He closed his eyes, recalling the last image of her at Lallybroch, just a dozen feet away. Hair blown wild with wind, flushed cheeks, and tears in her eyes. “She’s  been hurt enough. No use in tryin’ to be something that’ll bring her more pain.”

“Yer no makin’ a lick of sense,” she sighed, trying for indifference but he caught a hint of frustration.

“She thinks I hurt her- the way another man did, near broke her apart,” he said, eyes hooded.

“But ye did no such thing Jamie.”

“Aye, but she deserves better than me Jenny, I’m no monk and I havena done anything to prove I’m worthy.”

“Hush now, brother. Ye may no’ be a saint but ye’ve a good heart and any lass would be lucky to find ye.” Her words came fast and true, her eyes glistening in the firelight. “Get some rest now, or ye’ll be of no use tomorrow,” she finished, a look of determination on her face.

The flames finally faded from his vision as he saw nothing but whisky eyes, and the last thing he remembered before succumbing to sleep was the curl of her smile as his fingers traced the curve of her chin and his lips met hers.

Claire

When will the rain finally stop?

I pulled my coat closer as I reached the final few steps of the hospital entry way, quickening my steps to find shelter under the concrete canopy.

“Claire?”

I froze. Her voice did not match that tone. Normally steady and confident, she now sounded unsettled and unsure.

Slowly turning around, I saw dark brown hair and deep blue eyes staring at me.

“…Jenny? What are you doing here?” I blinked twice, trying to perceive the look on her face- eyebrows furrowed; a crease had formed between them that aged her considerably. “Is everything ok?”

“No one has taken ill, but there’s a peace I need to speak to ye, and it canna wait.” Her eyes shifted with a glimmer of determination.

“O-Of course. Let me just make a quick call and then I’ll be with you, ok?”

What on earth could Jenny have to say to me after what happened?

My hands fumbled for my phone in my pocket and I dialed Joe’s number. I just needed 5 minutes and I’d meet him for rounds and this whole sordid mess would be over.

[praveenwattegedara]

1. Take things at your own pace navigating our way back to 'normal' after two years of a global pandemic.

Back in the early days of the pandemic, one phrase you heard a lot was: "When this is all over…" But what exactly does "over" mean?

Lockdown restrictions were never going to stay in place forever. But anyone who imagined Covid-19 would magically disappear (and be as irrelevant the Millenium Bug had become in 2001) was indulging in an understandable, but a naive form of wishful thinking.

Two years on, we are no closer to 'Covid Zero' than we are to 'Flu Zero', 104 years after the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. But in the UK, hospital cases are stabilizing, as a weaker form of the virus becomes dominant, and vaccines are in the majority of arms.

Whether the return to normal life is happening too soon is debatable. But it undeniably is happening, and it has already happened in most parts of the country.

For much of the workforce, from bus drivers to shop workers, bar staff to police officers, the days of furlough and sheltering at home are already long forgotten. The creative professions, though, have largely moved at a different pace.

Many artists, designers, illustrators, animators, and video editors have found continued remote working not only feasible but, in many ways, preferable. As the final vestiges of lockdown laws are scrapped, though, the pressure on employees to return to the studio and freelancers to resume in-person meetings is growing.

Many of us will relish that opportunity. But what if you feel differently?

Well, for starters, let's take a reality check. No one will force you to stop self-isolating if you don't want to. As long as you're working effectively and efficiently via remote working, no sane HR department will want that fight, not this year anyway. (If your experience is different, though, we'd love to hear about it). And if a freelance client throws their toys out of the pram? Well, they probably weren't worth staying with anyway.

But what if you're broadly ready to return to the normal work routine but experiencing anxiety, stress and even fear about it? You certainly wouldn't be alone. So we asked our Twitter followers for their tips on managing the transition and looking after our mental health along the way.

1. Take things at your own pace

The first tip is that you don't have to rush into anything. The shift from self-isolation to physically interacting doesn't have to happen in one fell swoop. So take everything at a pace that suits you, and well, be kind to yourself.

"I'm trying to be self-compassionate as I navigate being anxious in groups again," says illustrator Amy Lauren. "I'm gradually adjusting to being out and about instead of expecting myself to perform to unrealistic standards. Taking things slowly helps me appreciate the day-to-day more."

Patrick Gallagher, a freelance 2D designer and animator, currently at CNN, has followed a similar strategy. "I've been switching up my routine by using a co-working space a few days a week," he says. "It helps me break away from the big home setup and just get out and about with my laptop.

"If you don't have a co-working space near you, I think a coffee shop, full of regulars you could get to know, would also do the trick," he adds. "The simple thing of being back with others is such a boost. On my first day, the space was a bit empty except for their admin staff, but I appreciated even just speaking to them."

2. Pay attention to your mental health

Even if you're gung-ho about ending your self-isolation, you may experience mental health challenges you weren't expecting. So now more than ever, it's important to pay attention to how you're feeling, acknowledge your emotions, and take steps to deal with them.

Specific techniques and activities can help, although these will vary from person to person. "Drawing a few times every day has really helped my mental health lately," says graphic designer and illustrator Iancu Barbărasă. "I carry a pocket sketchbook with me everywhere and draw either what I see or from photos I take. I've also found it helpful to use the app Freedom to limit access to news and social media for most of the day."

For author, artist and social entrepreneur Anna B Sexton, meanwhile, it's been about: "Loads of naps and keeping things simple. Booking in less work versus getting scared and overworking, when that's not helping my mental health. Meditation helps too."

Anthony Galasso, a creative strategist at Again Interactive, has found self-auditing useful. "I've been doing a lot of contemplation recently, across various topics," he says. "I'm asking myself if I'm happy with who I am, where I am, what I'm doing, etc." For more advice on mental health techniques, read our article Be Kind to Your Mind.

3. Pay attention to your physical health

Mental and physical health can't, of course, be treated in isolation. And so, looking after your physical health is key to coping with any mental health challenges you're facing right now.

"For me, it's all about balance," says artist and illustrator Carina Lindmeier. "Physical activities on a regular basis keep me both mentally and physically fit, so things don't get too overwhelming with having FOMO or things like that. I also think it's important to block out 'me-time' in my calendar, so I have enough time for the things that keep me sane."

Artist Jarvis Brookfield tells a similar story. "One thing that has helped me a lot is establishing a consistent physical exercise routine," he says. "I've gotten stronger and feel that my body looks better, which has increased my sense of confidence. So exercise has been a big help for me over the last 18 months for sure."

4. Reframe what 'normal' is to you

One of the most stressful things about ending self-isolation is the somewhat disorientating notion that things are going "back to normal". In truth, life in 2022 is still very different from what it was two-and-a-bit years ago, and it's important to acknowledge that, believes graphic designer and illustrator Jane Bowyer.

"I am no longer chasing the idea of the person I was at the start of 2020," she says. "Instead of looking back, I'm trying to move forward, carrying the weight of the experiences I've had over the last two years to the next stage of my career and life.

"One piece of advice I've followed is to ask yourself: how do you want to feel?" she continues. "Do you want to feel confident, inspired, like a part of a community again? And then set yourself a bite-size, realistic goal to help take the pressure off and stop you from overloading your plate. For example, you might say, 'I want to feel inspired to make work for myself'. So a realistic goal for you might be to visit an exhibition that's opening next month."

Freelance PR consultant Carolyn Hughes offers a similar take. "It's still hard to say what the new 'normal' is and will be," she says. "I'm certainly not out and about as much as pre-pandemic with most meetings taking place online now. While this is actually more time-efficient, it is hard to physically be alone for much of my working time."

In terms of mental health, she's found connecting with fellow freelancers and friends has been important. "They understand the challenges of what you do and your working life," she says. "Taking a break and meeting for a half-hour chat and a brew does you good."

5. Talk openly as an organisation

So far, we've focused on tips for employees or freelancers in the creative industries. But if you're a manager or agency owner, Elliott Rylands, a senior product designer based in London, has some advice for you too.

"'Back to normal' is something we hear a lot," he says. "To many, these words offer great comfort and fill us with relief that we can return to our pre-Covid lives from a social and a business perspective. Rightly so. Carrying a mental health disorder for a large majority of my life, I understand the complexities that following the ever-moving goalposts of the 'stay at home/go to work' guidelines can bring.

"While traversing mental health obstructions throughout my career has been no picnic, I've been fortunate enough to work with many folks that suffer in the same way and found some effective methods to combat the barriers my brain attempts to place on my path," he adds. "These have been especially helpful during the pandemic.

"Transparency with my peers has been helpful for my team. We've brought the conversation of mental health to the table. As a senior designer, I feel it's important we try to incorporate these conversations about any form of discomfort, be it mental health or otherwise, in our day-to-day. It's unified my team in so many ways."

Praveen Wattegedara